Endgame
by squeekness
Summary: The Clansmen make their move against the Dognan slavers. Will the Xmen finally earn their ride home? This episode ends with a bang! Part three of my Kimble series.
1. Chapter 1

Summary : The Clansmen make their move against the Dognan slavers. Will the X-men finally earn their ride home?

Notes: This is part three of my Kimble series, you will need to read the other two before beginning this. :)

Rated M for language, violence and non-explicit sexual situations.

AU but only because I chose to change a few things in my dear friends' histories for simplification, nothing drastic so please forgive. I wrote this for a friend who didn't read the comics so there is a bit of back history and explanation on who everyone is and what their powers are. I've been working on this story for years so I do ask that you don't use any of my non-Marvel universe characters without my permission. I love my Siskans as I do my children.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for reading this, I'm like a kid at Christmas watching my hit counter tick slowly but steadily upwards. I only had just a couple of readers before I posted this on fanfiction so yeah, I'm happy. (!) Thanks especially for those who reviewed, it's always nice to hear a kind word and the helpful hints have been very appreciated.

To answer your question Roughneck 17, yes, there will be more X-men in this story later on and more of my favorite villains, including Sabretooth and Wildchild – I have a thing for my ferals if you hadn't noticed!

**2-7-2011** ~ Just a quick note to say that I have just revised some of the material in this book since it was first posted years ago. I didn't change any of the events, I just wanted to clean up any spelling and grammar mistakes I could find and well, try to make the writing itself a bit better. I plan to do this with all of the stories I have posted but since I have such a huge collection of books, it will take me a long while. I apologize now for any inconsistencies you may encounter going forward, there will be a point where my revisions have left off and you'll probably notice it as you read along. Please forgive me. – Squeekness

(One)

Henry sat at his work station, fumbling through the last of the detonators. The date for the big offensive had been set for the next day and as much as he didn't like the idea of warfare, he was eager to get these done.

Beast was a creature of deep feelings though he didn't always articulate them. Here he was creating devices made to kill and yet you wouldn't know from the look on his face that the very act of doing this disturbed him greatly. Remy was not the only one with reservations about large scale killing, but Beast hadn't been able to get the acts of the slavers out of his mind. He recalled all too vividly the sounds of them killing off the humans that had been undesirable as slaves and the pens had been a horror. Those people had done nothing wrong other than be in the wrong place at the worst possible time. As much as he shared Gambit's revulsion to killing and war in general – as a doctor he'd had to repair too much of the collateral damage that many battles and stupid petty squabbles had left behind – he understood that sometimes it just had to be done.

Logan was aware of his teammates' reluctance to fight and had gone out of his way to remind them both about the callousness of such slavers. Any race that felt itself so superior that it could kill and enslave with such a lack of compassion and sympathy for the rights of others was one that had to be destroyed. The Dognan moved from world to world, how long before they decided they wanted more than just a few slaves from their own precious Earth and stole the rest of it?

Henry knew this, he did, but there was always that lingering doubt that not all of the Dognan men approved of such practices. A race that thought nothing of slavery no doubt used conscription as a means of replenishing their ranks. They could be killing many innocent people along with the guilty. Henry knew his history, Nazi Germany no doubt had its share of innocent Germans, but the regime as a whole had to go. This wasn't much different.

The one thing that did give Henry some selfish comfort was the knowledge that he wasn't going to be active in the field. He would be co-ordinating the various teams from the Lucky Dragon and not out in the actual fighting. It made this a little easier to bear.

Beast closed his eyes and rubbed them for a moment. These thoughts were painful and he was trying not to dwell on them. He also knew that this thing had to be done for them to earn their way home, as distasteful as it might be. He had tried to explore other avenues of getting their freedom a bit more cheaply, but the alternatives here were almost non-existent, there simply was no other way besides their co-operation with the Clan.

Beyond his initial outburst, Gambit, too, had gone quiet on the matter. He did as he was instructed and kept his thoughts to himself. The haunted look was in his eyes a bit more than before, however, and it was no secret that he was ready to just get this over with.

Lucky for him that would be the very next day. Another reason Beast was eager to finish today's work was that they had all been invited to spend what they hoped would be one of their last nights here with the Clan on the Lucky Dragon, being treated to Fallen's superior hospitality. It was an invitation none of them had even considered refusing.

The plan was for them to sleep overnight with Fallen and then she would fly them to the staging area in the morning. Beast was looking forward to some decent food and a good night's sleep – not to mention the luxury of a nice hot shower.

"You ready, Blue?"

Henry looked up into Wolverine's eyes, seeing his teammate had arrived to collect him a little early, no doubt thinking along the same lines he was. Logan had packed up their few meager belongings and was taking them along just in case this finished quickly. Remy was quiet but tense behind him, a small backpack and his bo staff in hand.

"Yes, I just have to pack up the last of this stuff."

They helped Beast gather the remaining ordinance for the offensive. Henry was in charge of the timers and detonators for the explosives, but he and Bruce had also scrounged some more two way radios and tracking devices that might come in handy. Bruce wasn't coming along with them to the Dragon, this had been an X-men only invite, Fallen's way of apologizing for their rough first meeting.

Maylee met them along the way, she was returning from her classes and had been told to keep an eye out for them to make sure they didn't get lost, and they followed her to the large hanger bay. The Lucky Dragon was parked in its usual place, ready and inviting. The ramp was down but the hatchway was locked. There was a small intercom box just outside the door and Maylee clicked a button on it. "Seth, it's me."

Seth was quick to answer, "Hey, Maylee. Did you find everyone okay?"

"Yes, they're all here."

"Good. You know the rules though. You'll have to wash up first. Fallen's in the workshop. You can use her lav. Take turns."

"Okay." Maylee clicked off and there was a loud snap as the hatch unlocked.

"What was that all about?" Logan grumbled.

"Fallen has this thing about being clean. She thinks all the Stations are filthy. She won't be happy unless we shower first. Is that a problem?"

Unanimously, "No!"

Maylee lead them into the ship and directly into Fallen's private lavatory. Logan noticed immediately as he entered that the air quality in the ship was much better than in the hanger, something Henry had mentioned from when he had visited here so recently, but it hadn't meant anything until he experienced it now for himself. It was much cleaner and he assumed she must have filters running.

In all the time they had spent on the Lucky Dragon before, none of the X-men had gone inside Fallen's lavatory. It was located to the back of the cage room, a private area just for her. The lav was generous for a bathroom, almost as big as the cage area itself and with plenty of room for everyone. There was a good supply of hot water so they could take as long as they liked to wash. Maylee smiled at them demurely and left.

While he waited for his turn in the shower, Logan took some time to check out the room. Fallen's lav was large and had lots of shelves. Towels, clothes and bedding were stacked neatly on one shelf and a generous supply of medical supplies were on another. There was a medium sized viewing screen mounted on the wall near the shower - so Fallen could talk with Seth, Maylee had explained. The sink area had a large vanity with a long mirror. She had a lot of items in jars lined up along the top of it, he saw some hand rolled cigarettes in one and helped himself. He also noted another jar with old style metal syringes and wondered why she would need so many. A closer look at her collection revealed she had quite the assortment of recreational drugs. He sniffed at the jars and winced at the smell, many of them were opiates and no doubt were the source of her habit.

Wolverine saw a washing machine and crammed all of their clothes into it. This machine was simple yet quite efficient, Maylee told them that it could wash their clothes in a matter of only a few minutes, something that would make Fallen a million bucks and then some if she ever had a mind to sell this technology back home. Logan was happy just for the privilege of using it, these small luxuries were most welcome after living in the grungy Clan caves all this time. It was almost like the Lucky Dragon was a time machine warping them back to civilization. He smiled at Remy as he stepped out of the shower and hopped in, grateful.

After everyone was cleaned up, they all felt refreshed and comfortable. As they left the lav, they were startled to hear loud, thumping dance music drifting up from the lower level. The affect on Gambit was immediate, he broke out into a wide smile and his pace quickened. He was a veteran of the many dance clubs nearby the Institute. Gambit loved a scrap, a chance to flex his muscles to the maximum, but more than that he loved to dance. It was a release for him and he could surely use that right now, all these weeks stressed out at Clan Station Nine had left him quite miserable.

Logan, knowing this, had to suppress a smile as he rushed to keep up.


	2. Chapter 2

(Two)

The X-men made their way down the stairs and to the workshop, Maylee following behind them. The song was some kind of techno country music and Gambit recognized it immediately as Cotton Eyed Joe from the Rednex. It was a quirky tune but full of fun and their new friends were enjoying it and then some.

Kimble was out in the hologram again and he and his pilot Mistress were line dancing. Or at least Kimble was - Fallen was having serious trouble getting the steps right and she was goofing up like crazy, laughing at her own incompetence. The awkward pair had their backs to the hallway and didn't immediately notice the approach of their guests.

A computer screen on the long workbench in the back was turned on and an instructional, three dimensional, animated figure was going through the dance steps on the screen. Kimble was pointing at it. "See? This way."

He stood back and went through the steps with exaggerated slowness, as if explaining to a retarded child. He took her hands and they tried again but poor Fallen was completely lost. She was making mistakes and laughing hysterically.

"No, no, no!" Kimble scolded through his own hearty laughter. "Yer not even close!"

He let go of her and went through it again, this time at full speed. His co-ordination was much better than Seth's and he flowed through each move with confident efficiency and in perfect time with the music. He was wearing those tight fitting black jeans again but they didn't seem to restrict him in any way even as they exaggerated the odd bend of his legs. Looking at them, Logan surmised the clothes had to be part of the 'skin' that was Kimble's design, just as Lanlin's kimono had been. There simply was no way denim pants that tight could ever be made to fit over crooked cat legs like that. Kimble wasn't human, but yet still danced with ease and grace.

"See? It's easy!" Kimble boasted when he finished the quick series of steps.

"Easy for you! You've got the files!" Fallen protested in response.

"That ain't it at all," he tried to explain. He took her hands once more and led her through the steps again. "Yer just bein' stubborn!" he drawled in his strange accent. "It ain't no brain surgery, Fallen! Jus' dancin'." They continued to dance awkwardly, Kimble playfully forcing her to go faster and faster until she was a reckless tangle of limbs. She fell against him, gasping, and he held her loosely in his arms, his embrace comfortable and easy. They were both laughing loudly and having a blast.

The song ended and then started over, looping. Gambit took his cue and cut in on Fallen's other side, clearing his throat to get the hologram's attention. Kimble looked up at him as he entered the line and smiled warmly, not the least bit upset over the interruption. His eyes glittered instead with amusement as he looked Remy over with the same unconcealed interest that he had Henry. He raised an eyebrow in invitation and Remy accepted, not the least bit intimidated by Kimble's intense curiosity. Remy knew both the music and the steps for this dance so he bowed and started right in. He counted off and then the three of them began the dance together. Kimble and Gambit were in perfect time, but Fallen was still hopelessly lost and not improving with practice.

"C'mon, 'Enry!" Remy shouted over the music and dragged a hapless Beast into the fray.

"Well, it's been some time..." Beast stammered, but managed to work his way feebly through the dance. Henry was quite nimble himself and no slouch on the dance floor, but he was unfamiliar with these particular steps. At least he was doing better than Fallen, she kept doing things backwards and was bumping back and forth between Remy and Kimble like a bizarre albino pinball. She was laughing uncontrollably, tears streaming from her eyes. She was swaying wildly, dizzily.

Kimble was laughing, too, but not as hard. He watched her with a mixture of dismay and amusement. "She's hopeless!" he announced, the verdict final.

Fallen took the hint and bowed out of the line. She staggered to the bench, her sides heaving as she tried to catch her breath. She was topless as usual and sweat gleamed on her bony torso. It didn't seem possible, but she looked thinner than before. There were some open beer bottles on the bench and she took one and drained it in one thirsty gulp. Henry joined her, glad for the excuse to make his escape. Logan weaved his way around the two remaining crazy people and leaned next to Henry.

Meanwhile, Maylee had moved across the floor, behind all the action, to sit on the shop bed, her eyes glowing with excitement. She was watching the two remaining dancers intently. She wanted to join in, but Kimble intimidated her. He'd always made her nervous. Maybe when she got the steps figured out, she would join in. For now, she was content to watch.

Kimble and Gambit continued to dance. They were going at it with much more gusto now that the feebles had left. Gambit paused and showed Kimble a new series of steps that went with the same music. Kimble watched him carefully and then imitated him exactly, revealing he possessed a near perfect memory. He went through them again and Gambit nodded his approval. They danced again, quickly and in perfect unison.

"Oh, sure!" Fallen complained. "Now you're showing off!"

"He learns fast," Henry commented.

"He has almost unlimited learning capabilities," Fallen explained, leaning in closer to be heard over the music. "Plus he has all of Lucky's resources now that he's in the system. His 'brain' is much larger than ours if you put all that together. When he's motivated, he can learn almost anything. He especially likes games and dancing. Anything fun. He is an entertainment program after all. This is what he was designed to do."

Gambit went through another series of steps, thrilled to be dancing and playing around with the hologram. He wasn't the least bit put off by Kimble's playful and flirtatious kidding around. If anything, Kimble's eagerness to be with him only added to the fun. Gambit's gloom and dread of the upcoming mission evaporated and he laughed and laughed. Happy with the distraction, he wanted to see just how much Kimble could do. The new steps that Remy showed him now were much more difficult than the ones Kimble had been trying to teach Fallen.

Kimble watched him, rapt, and picked up the new set of steps just as easily as the last. He obviously enjoyed the challenge and was thrilled to be interacting with someone new. They continued to dance, rotating now through the whole series of steps and Kimble completed them all with great skill. Kimble seemed to be having a grand time now that he had a competent partner. He laughed and joked with Remy, both of them at ease even though they didn't know each other well.

Logan was watching this with keen interest. Kimble learned fast, imitating Remy's slick moves with that computer perfect recall of his. Far from being thrilled by Kimble's ability to shmooze on the dance floor, Logan worried more over some basic truths. Dancing and fighting weren't all that different, especially the way Remy played it. Both required speed, grace, and accuracy and Kimble had no problem with any of these it seemed. Logan wondered if Kimble had any files on fighting techniques and just how strong he was. Because of his aggressive nature, Wolverine judged all men this way. They were categorized by threat assessments.

Kimble's outgoing and cocky demeanor made Logan wary. This was no passive and compliant hologram, not like Lanlin had been. Kimble's eyes were bright and he always seemed to have that sly, teasing grin. He was just a little too free, too independent in his spirit. He did what he wanted and not always what Fallen ordered him to do. Perhaps this was how these holograms behaved when they were integrated into a family as Kimble was, but Logan doubted it. There was something unique and different about Kimble that hadn't been there in the other hologram. Logan could see the hologram restraints were still in place, but he had no doubt Kimble could break out if he wanted to. It was there in his eyes. He had too much confidence, too much free will to be penned in forever.

Logan also recalled the argument Kimble had with Fallen. He'd threatened to click off, but was stopped by her plea for him to stay. If she was truly in control of him, Kimble would never have had the ability to leave or even the capacity to think about it independently of her. That was it, really. Kimble was a program, but showed that he functioned and thought separately and independently. Games and programs didn't do that last Logan knew. He wasn't sure what all this meant, or if it was even a concern, but he just couldn't shake the unease Kimble gave him. Even Seth hadn't made him feel this way.

He also noted how fast Remy was captivated by Kimble's charm. He couldn't recall the last time Gambit had laughed so hard or when he looked so bright and alive. Wolverine figured having a hologram like this wasn't much different than having a dog, the way they greeted you so bright and eager at the doorway when you first walked in. Problem was, some of those dogs would later bite you in the ass. Logan had no reason to believe Kimble could be any different. He only hoped that Gambit wasn't so captivated by this bizarre creation that he wouldn't get swept away by a false sense of security.

"Where did you get the steps and music for this dance?" Henry asked Fallen, interrupting Logan's thoughts.

Fallen smiled as she answered, "Seth found it in one of the Dognan computers. Apparently they have extensive files on human culture and behaviors."

"Seth has contact with the Dognan?"

"Yes. Well, he listens in on them all the time. In this case, Cerebus gave me a computer drive from a downed ship for analysis. I got the military files he wanted, but Seth found this stuff in a junk folder. The Dognan seem to like our music which is fine by me. These extracted files are my only source for music. Of all the things I miss most about home, music is the worst."

"How long have you been gone?" Henry asked gently, respectful of any pain she might still feel.

"About twenty years or so," she answered as quietly as he'd expected. "Clinton was President."

"Clinton?" Henry asked, puzzled. Back home, their President was a guy named Robert Kelly. He had risen to power on an anti-mutant platform, a cause of great concern for them all.

She smiled at him. "My Earth is not the same as yours," she explained. "We don't have alphas or X-men, just stories about them. I believe now someone from my world could see into yours. It's my only explanation for your being here, real and alive."

"What year was it when you left?"

"2000."

Beast raised an eyebrow. "That's the same year it is for us now. If you came to our world, it would be like you never left."

"Wow," she breathed, genuinely surprised. "That's freaky."

"May I ask how old you were when you were taken?"

"I was about 33 I guess."

"Let's see. You were 33 when you were taken. You said you've been gone about 20 years. Well, I must say you're in very good condition for someone who's about 55 years old."

"The Dognan conversion process retards aging. I also don't get sick as much as the Clan people do. Probably the only reason I get away with smoking as much as I do."

"I'd like to hear about the conversion process sometime."

"No, you wouldn't. It was awful," she said softly, dropping her eyes for a moment.

"Have you ever thought about going back home?" Henry said, changing to a less painful subject.

"Can't. My Earth was destroyed. They're all dead," she said quickly, forcing it out.

_Oops_, Henry thought to himself, instantly sorry for his mistake. "What about one of the other Earths? Ours, for example. Would you like to go there?"

"Sure. Seth and I have talked about it a lot since you came." She sat back into a chair, watching Kimble and Gambit play. They seemed tireless. "But I am one who is slow to change. I am comfortable here, even with Valentin," she added softly. Before Henry could speak, she continued. "Besides, I don't know if I can jump anymore. Kimble seems to think so, but it's been a really long time. Even if I could, looking as I do now would make things difficult for me."

"That's true," Henry agreed. "But your abilities and technical knowledge would go a long way towards overcoming that."

"Who would hire me? S.H.I.E.L.D. or some other government agency?" Fallen snapped. SHIELD was a powerful American agency that had been designed on the X-men's Earth to intervene in the human/mutant squabbles. It was telling that Fallen was aware of its existence, it gave credence to her claim that she knew the X-men for real. She went on to say, "They'd want me to make weapons and I refuse. I won't be responsible for the death of another person."

Something in her voice caught Logan's attention. He wasn't sure what it was, but it nagged at him. Her phrasing begged the question - had she killed before? Is that why she wouldn't use her power to fight Valentin? It was the only thing that made sense around here.

"I'd hire you," Henry said simply.


	3. Chapter 3

(Three)

Fallen had been drinking as the doctor had made his offer and she coughed and sputtered with surprise at Henry's words. Kimble glanced her way, protectively watching his Mistress but not slowing down. Fallen replied, "You would hire me? What would that make me? The Fallen X-Man?" She threw her head back and laughed, obviously not believing him. "Yeah, I'd fit right in with all you beautiful happy people," she said sarcastically.

"Beautiful?"

"Oh, yes," she replied, a hard glint coming into her eyes. "That's the way you're drawn. A Clan of handsome, beautifully tragic people fighting a never ending war against racism. Me? I'm just tragic, nothing more," she finished bitterly.

Kimble seemed to sense her change in mood and came over, using his thirst as an excuse to make sure she was all right. He grabbed a bottle of beer next to her, selecting the one that was the most full, and chugged the whole thing down without stopping. He spilled the last of it and almost choked as it dribbled down his chin. He grinned and wiped his face on his arm, sputtering.

"Slob!" Fallen teased with a laugh.

"Wuz raised inna whorehouse. Let's go, yer rested enough, girl!" he said with hearty laughter, dragging her back to the dance. She didn't fight him. She failed once more at the steps, but Kimble succeeded in inspiring her laughter.

"Whorehouse, huh? Bet that's not far off the mark," Logan joked humorlessly, thinking of Lanlin. "He's very protective of her."

"Yes, as every good friend should be, I suppose."

"Your job offer didn't seem to impress her much," Logan continued, keeping his voice low as he kept his wary gaze on Kimble.

"Sometimes all one has to do is plant the seed, my friend. Perhaps if Kimble hears as well as I suspect, he will persuade her," Henry replied. He'd noticed the timing of Kimble's convenient interruption and had no doubt of what he'd seen in Kimble's eyes. "He'd do anything to get her away from Valentin, I am sure of it. Perhaps I will speak to him directly about it."

Logan snorted. "Don't bother. We don't know anything about him. Look at him. He's one of those Siskan holograms, but there's something different about him. He could be dangerous."

"Different? Yes. Perhaps it's because Fallen is using him for something a little less recreational than you did with the other one, my friend."

"Sheesh, Blue. It ain't that, okay? Did you see his eyes? He's got too much spirit. It's like he's really alive or something."

"Is that a tone of fear I detect? You don't think you could take him down if it came to it?"

"Sure, I can. If he bleeds. We don't know that he does or anything else about him."

"I'm willing to take the risk to get home. I still believe Fallen may be our only ticket out of here. Besides, I haven't seen anything about Seth or Kimble to make me nervous yet."

Once more, Fallen bowed out and left Gambit in charge of her overzealous hologram. She stepped aside, enjoying the show the two of them were putting on.

Remy was all over it. He danced faster and faster and was amazed when Kimble easily kept pace with him. Kimble moved with a fluid feline grace that matched his own and it was impossible for him tell Kimble wasn't real by his movements. The only giveaway was a certain lack of fine detail on Kimble's body and clothing and Remy saw the hologram's 'skin' flicker slightly a few times. It didn't slow Kimble down any, he certainly didn't freak out like Seth did. He just kept dancing and fooling around, laughing wildly and clapping his hands.

A moment later, Kimble abruptly stopped dancing and stood still, touching his ear as if listening to something only he could hear. His body gave a great shiver and then melted slightly, magically shifting its appearance into Seth's. Seth apparently had wanted to give the dance a try and in spite of all the fun he was having, Kimble had generously given the hologram over to him.

Henry raised his eyebrows to Logan who only looked that much more aloof. "Neat trick," the doctor couldn't help but comment.

Fallen took Seth's hands and smiled, her pleasure at his arrival obvious to all. "I was hoping you'd come," she said and kissed him. "Let's dance, love. Show Kimble just how good you are."

"Okay, just take it easy on me," he laughed. He bobbled a bit, woozy and blinking. "Uh, gotta thank Kimble for the beer. I think I'm too drunk for this!"

"You'll be fine," Fallen said, giving him another kiss.

At last, someone who danced worse than Fallen. Seth was still very slow and wobbly on his legs. Gambit grinned and showed Seth the steps, curious about how he was different from Kimble. Seth shared Kimble's near perfect memory, but not his skill. He still struggled as he moved his body around. He was also quite drunk on what Kimble had taken into the hologram, that had been no joke. His cheeks were now flushed and he had a good case of the giggles going on.

Remy was very patient with the new arrival, as ever a natural teacher. He was amused to no end on how tipsy Seth was, it only added to the fun and he was having a blast.

Seth ate up all the encouragement Gambit had to offer and started to dance when the song looped over again. The two different personalities were very powerful in their individuality, Seth seemed small and timid compared to Kimble's dynamic presence, another sign of just how different these two brothers really were.

Maylee was keenly aware of that difference and was excited Seth had come. She loved him best and enjoyed his company, especially when he was out in the hologram. She decided she'd seen enough to give the dance a try, figuring she couldn't be any worse than he was. She came up behind Seth and waited to cut in.

The young Siskan didn't see her and swung back with his arms, inadvertently elbowing her in the face. Maylee cried out in shock and surprise as her nose began to bleed.

Seth turned to Maylee and panicked when he saw the blood. "Are you all right?" he gasped in fear. It was only just a small dribble of blood, but he grabbed at her like she'd been stabbed. Blood from her nose leaked out over his hand and Seth cried out in horror at the sight of it.

The music stopped abruptly although no one had moved to shut it off. Logan looked around, confused and it next occurred to him that Seth or Fallen had shut it off just by thinking about it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maylee said, laughing and feeling foolish for not looking out where she'd been going. Fallen tossed her a rag and Henry stepped in to pinch off her nose. It was more difficult because of her cat like face, but the bleeding was so minor, he wasn't really concerned about it.

Seth was. He backed up, looking at the bright red blood on his hands in terror. His eyes were wide and he began to tremble violently. He made sharp hitching noises as he started to hyperventilate as he had before. All of his confidence had evaporated, lost by what he perceived to be a disaster. Fallen noticed and went to him. "Hey, relax. She's fine."

"I hurt her...I hurt her...Uhhh..." Seth wheezed. All he could see was the blood.

"It was an accident. See? The bleeding's already stopped." Fallen looked back at Maylee who held the rag up as proof. She wasn't bleeding anymore.

Seth didn't care. "I hurt her... I hurt May!" he wheezed breathlessly. He backed up until he hit the wall and slid down to the floor. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears, smearing blood on his face. He kept repeating the same thing over and over.

Fallen followed him and crouched down. She put her hands on his cheeks and started chanting his catch phrase. "**Shhh...Seth tay kunda Siska esk. Seth tay kunda Siska esk...**"

Logan noted the word Siska and nodded to himself. Siska, meaning this was in fact a Siskan hologram, just as Zekian had spoken of. Wolverine watched Seth's childish display of horror with a kind of disgust of the immature. He couldn't figure out why the two brothers were so different. Kimble made him wary because he was so outgoing, now Seth's little freakout made him even more untrusting of them both. Why would anyone over react like this unless they weren't quite right? These guys had some serious problems, no matter what anyone else thought.

After a moment, Seth calmed and was quiet. Maylee came over and crouched next to Fallen in front of Seth. She kissed him lightly on the forehead. "You okay, buddy?"

At the sound of her voice, Seth opened his eyes. He looked tired and frightened and he reached out and lightly touched Maylee's nose as if he didn't believe she was okay. "I'm so sorry I hurt you," He looked like he would bawl at any moment.

"It's okay. It was my fault. Next time I'll let you know I'm behind you. It was an accident," Maylee said. At twelve years old, she sounded more adult than the man on the floor in front of her. Her concern was obvious, just as she was clearly much more at ease with Seth than with Kimble.

Seth nodded and closed his eyes again. "I want to go back now," he said softly.

"All right," Fallen said. "Don't stay away long. Kimble will take care of you." She gave him a lingering kiss and hugged him. Seth smiled at her, grateful for her touch and then turned his head away. The hologram melted from Seth's shape into that of a solid square. The personality was gone, but the particles remained and waited to be used again.

"What was that all about?" Logan asked impatiently. He didn't understand why Seth had made such a fuss over a nosebleed.

"He's very sensitive to any kind of violence," Fallen explained, giving Logan a dirty look. She had no patience for his lack of understanding and stood up to face him. "It's worse when Valentin's been around. He can't take the sight of blood."

"Can't imagine why."

"I think Seth is paranoid about how his actions affect other people," Fallen continued, ignoring his sarcastic remark. "Understand that his on-screen personality can't be hurt or affect this outside realm. The hologram is different. When he's out, he's much more sensitive about what he does and how he acts. He's more timid, more easily frightened than Kimble. Although I think he panics too easily, I fail to see how his being upset over hurting someone is a bad thing. I'd rather have him like this than be a bully."

"Where did he go?" Henry asked.

"He's back inside the system. He'll be quiet now for a couple of hours and then he'll be back, good as new. I'll talk to him about this and he'll be better."

"Kimble comin' back?" Logan wanted to know.

"No. He'll look after Seth until he's ready to come back out."

No one was in much of a mood to dance after this so they all went back upstairs. Fallen and Maylee cooked another wonderful stew. As before, Fallen served no meat, but it was fine just the same. They also served fresh bread and fruit, making a nice well rounded meal, the best the X-men had eaten in days. They all ate until they were stuffed, their good humor returning after a while. Gambit took out his cards and they played and drank her fine wine until it was quite late.

Neither Seth nor Kimble returned to the screen. Fallen would keep looking up as if expecting them, but the control room remained empty. Eventually they all grew tired and wandered off to bed. Fallen set the X-men up in the barracks, making sure they were all comfortable before retiring herself. She gave Maylee her bed in the cage and went down to the lower level to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

(Four)

Sometime in the night, Wolverine jerked suddenly awake. He'd heard a strangled cry from the lower level, something that brought him from a deep sleep to full attention. He sat up and listened, seeing that no one else around him was awakened by the noise. It was dark in the ship but he could see well in the dark, enough to notice the trap door was still open. He rose, sleek and quiet in the dark. This was his element and he could move about easily without being noticed.

Soft voices rose from below. Kimble and Fallen were whispering together but it wasn't enough to keep Wolverine from hearing that she was crying. Logan moved silently to the trapdoor and down the stairs. He slid down the hall and paused at the opening for the workshop. He wasn't ready to make his presence known just yet, he wanted to see what was going on first. There were no lights on in the room but with his enhanced senses, he could clearly see the edge of the bed from where he had stopped. She wasn't alone, the Kimble hologram was talking to her gently from a crouched position on the floor.

"S'okay, now, baby doll, I'm right here."

"Seth!" she called, her voice hoarse.

"He ain't come back yet. He's all nervous with the extra folks around. I'm here fer ya now."

Fallen was crying. She'd obviously had a nightmare, something Logan was all too familiar with himself. "Don't let them catch me!" Her voice had an edge of panic.

"Ain't nuthin here 'cept me," he soothed, leaning up onto the bed so he could touch her. "S'all quiet now. Jus' relax."

"No, they're always here, always..."

"Who? Who're you 'fraid of? Why won'tcha ever tells me?"

Kimble's voice had a familiar ring of frustration to it, informing Logan that she must have had this dream before. She didn't answer him but continued to sob. Fallen kept her secrets.

Kimble held her, kissing her and tenderly stroking her face. Taking advantage of her distress, his kisses grew more slow and intimate until he was making out with her full on the mouth.

She allowed it for a moment then gently pushed him away. "Stop that," she whispered.

"Why?" he asked her just as quietly. He wasn't pushing himself on her, he was simply upset at her refusal to let him help her. "I kin helps ya. I kin takes yer pain away if you would only let me. It's what I wuz made ta do, you knows that."

"It's not you I want."

"Seth ain't never gonna do fer you like I can, baby doll."

"Ability has nothing to do with it. We love each other, that's all that matters."

"I loves you, too!" he protested with an almost childish whine.

"I know you do," she replied, holding his chin. "I can hear it in your voice and taste it from your lips. You have a kind and loving heart, but you will never love me like he does."

"Let me takes yer pain, girl," he insisted. "All ya needs is fer someone ta touch ya right. Show ya that ya don' need Vally's pain ta feel alive. Seth cain't do that, Fallen, but I can. I loves ya enough to wanna helps ya. I hates ta see ya like this."

"I know you care," she said, looking into his eyes. "But even you can't take all the pain away. It hurts me all the time now."

"That's cuz ya don' keep Vally offa ya. You gittin' pregnant and rippin' yer body all ta shit with them horrible potions ta git rid of it ain't helpin'," Kimble complained with real concern.

Logan winced inwardly at the thought of what she'd done to herself. There was much they didn't know about this pilot and her strange holographic men. He had no idea what drove her, what kept her going - or what kept her sane. Wolverine just prayed she could hang on a little longer, just long enough to help them... and from the sound of things, herself as well.

"I didn't get pregnant this time," Fallen was arguing to her companion.

"No. But you ain't been right since the last time. Yer too thin. Usin' too much. I knows yer havin' trouble keepin' food down. You worry me, girl. Ya really do."

"I'm fine," she insisted sadly, rubbing his cheeks. "Thanks for caring, though." She sat up on the bed and rested her head back against the wall, sighing heavily. "I need a drink."

Kimble responded immediately, he rose and went to the shop bench, lighting two large double wick candles there. He grabbed a whiskey bottle from the bench, stuck it under his arm, and carried the works back over to the bed. His movements were quick and practiced, the sign of a good and conscientious servant.

Logan crouched down as Kimble passed near the doorway, fearful that the light might reveal him watching there. In spite of the extra illumination, the hologram didn't appear to notice him. Kimble set the candles on the floor and handed Fallen the bottle. He fussed over her, taking a blanket and seeing that she was covered, draping it over her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said, using a claw to open the bottle.

"Shure thing, kid. Anathin' fer you." Kimble sat down on the floor, his back against the bed.

Fallen took a large hit from the bottle and sighed in relief as the warmth of the liquor spread through her. She reached out and pulled Kimble's long ponytail onto the bed with one hand and toyed with it, running it through her fingers. He put his head back, loving the attention.

"You're the best friend a girl could have," Fallen whispered wistfully.

"Why's that? Cuz I let ya git drunk an' pet me?" Kimble teased, laughing a little at his joke.

"Actually yes. I enjoy this simple pleasure very much. But mostly it's because you're always here when I need you. I'm glad you wanted me to work on restoring the hologram. It's better talking with you like this instead of on the screen."

"Better fer me, too. You gonna sleeps down here all the time now? All I kin do is talks to ya when yer up top."

"I'll think about it." She sounded like a woman who didn't like to commit to anything.

"You seen Vally today," Kimble said, changing the subject. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. This morning."

"He give you any shit? That why you dreamin'?"

"No. He was too busy. Tomorrow will be a busy day for us all."

"You talk with Cerebus? He gonna make Vally leave you alone?"

"He said, 'Stop resisting him and he won't beat you'."

"That's cuz ya don't tells him what he does. Jus' like you won't tells me why ya let him hurts ya like ya do," Kimble complained, turning to look back at her. "If ya won' tell me, you should tells Seth. I knows yer more personal with him than me."

"I don't want to start this with you again."

"Sorry. It's only cuz I cares 'boutcha, is all," he said, giving in. He was quiet a moment and then ventured to ask, "We gonna split or what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Yer almost done with yer service. We gonna split or hang around with these losers?" he asked, meaning the Clan.

"I haven't thought about it."

"Liar. You just don' wants ta tell me. We're stayin', right?" he asked, his disappointment obvious.

"Where are we going to go?" she countered in exasperation.

"To the X-men's place. I heard that Henry guy talkin' to ya."

Logan's ears pricked up with interest. This he definitely wanted to hear and he dared to come one step closer to the edge of the doorway.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, my Momma used to say," Fallen replied to Kimble's question.

"You wuz pickin' on Seth fer havin' no sense of adventure. Now look at you, chicken." He clucked in an exaggerated imitation of the bird.

She laughed and tugged on his hair. "You're such a pest! Besides, I don't know if I can jump."

"You kin jumps easy. Yer levels are higher than all them other pilots."

"Yes, but we always jumped in pairs with the Dognan. You want me to do it alone."

"So? I knows ya kin do it. I'll helps ya. Lucky's a fine ship, gots the best engines. Won't take as much fer you ta jump us."

"Valentin won't let us go."

"No, you won' let Vally go, there's a difference," he said, serious again.

"Are you jealous?"

"Only cuz ya gives him yer body. Ya say yes ta him, but no ta me. Huh. That's sumpthin' I ain't never gonna understand. I wouldn't ever do ya like that, baby doll. No fuckin' way. Ya say yer waitin' fer Seth, but ya spend th' meanwhile with that asshole. That - that - that -Ughh! Fergets it," he grumbled irritably and put his head down, turning away from what he clearly didn't understand.

"You don't understand because it's not about sex, Kimble."

"Then what is it about, huh? Tells me!" he demanded.

"I can't. It's complicated."

"Oh? I'm too fuckin' stupid ta understand, is that it?" he said sharply. "You'd be surprised what I knows, lady!"

"I'm sure. I realize there's more to you than you tell me. We both have our secrets. As such, this is a private matter between me and Valentin. You'll just have to respect that."

"An' Seth? Alla this is hurtin' him bad. He ain't so tough as me."

Logan had to suppress a snort at that, the idea that Kimble thought he was tough about anything at all. Logan still didn't know what to make of this hologram that stubbornly refused to see its own limitations.

Fallen was answering, "As you're so fond of saying, 'we'll deal with it.' Right now Seth is too afraid to come out all the time, so there's no point in changing things. Perhaps when he's braver, it will get better for all of us."

"So, you gonna dump my files when he comes out fer good?" he asked, a tone of insecurity making him quiet.

"Not a chance, mister," she said, yanking on his ponytail with affection. "You're my best friend, Kimble. I wouldn't do that to you. Besides, I wouldn't want to be anywhere without you. No one makes me laugh like you do. No one pisses me off like you do," she joked, laughing. "I always know I'm safe with you watching my back. No one knows this ship like you do. It took you a long time to learn, but no one flies like you do with me. We're a team. You're my Second. You always will be. I would do it, but I wouldn't enjoy flying as much if you were gone."

"You knows I wuzn't ever meant ta fly no ship like this."

"Yes. I know. But you're a survivor like me. We adapt to whatever comes our way. We do what we have to, to stay alive." She stretched and yawned, growing tired again.

"You should sleeps now," he said gently.

She leaned forward and set the bottle down. "C'mere," she said, pulling Kimble onto the bed with her so he lay behind her. She took his big arms and wrapped them around her tiny body like a nice warm blanket. "I'm so tired, Kimble. Tired inside and out."

"Sleep then. **Fayed rowth, **my Fallen. M' Mistress," he whispered, confirming Logan's guess of the hologram's status. Kimble was owned like property, saw that as his place and served the woman he held with complete devotion. Logan had the idea then that Kimble may not be in love with her, but he would do his best to protect her, to honor his station. He could see the way Kimble touched her, he was so gentle. He held her close and kissed the back of her head. "I'll watch over yous. Ain't nuthin' gonna happens to ya with me here."

"I'm glad you came tonight..." she whispered, settling down. Kimble stared off into space, rubbing her arm with his thumb, thinking. He smiled when he heard her breathing change and she snored a little.

Kimble startled Wolverine in his hiding place when he spoke softly. "You kin leaves now, Logan. She's sleepin'."

Logan snickered softly, busted. "Right, then." He stood to go.

"She won' go. Won' leave Vally. I'll keep tryin' fer yous guys, though." Kimble's voice was sad and tired.

"I'm sure you will," he replied and left as quietly as he came. He went up the stairs and lay back down on his bed. He was tired but couldn't sleep now, he had too much to think about. He was surprised that Kimble had detected him. With all of his military training, Wolverine was not an easy man to catch by anyone's standards. The room had been almost completely black, lit only by the two large candles. He casually wondered if Kimble, as a hologram, possessed some kind of extra sensory perception that no one knew about. He certainly wasn't human so it would be foolish to judge his capabilities as one. He would have to keep an eye on him and be cautious whenever Kimble was out in the hologram.

On the other hand, he had no doubt that Kimble would honor his promise. Getting the X-men home served his Mistress as well and Kimble desperately wanted Fallen out of the mess she was in. Their goals appeared to be the same.

Logan yawned and settled down himself, ready now for some sleep. They were going to have a busy day tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

(Five)

The X-men slept well and were refreshed and happy when they woke. They rose, excited and ready to get this battle over with so they could go home. They cleaned up and got dressed before wandering out to the galley.

Remy had passed on Clan dress this morning and put his X-men clothes back on. He was overjoyed when Fallen had returned his much missed leather duster, it had been left behind on her ship when they were taken prisoner by the Clan all those weeks ago. He wanted his long coat for the pockets and the flexibility of the spandex pants for greater mobility, leather never really was his favorite. He hadn't liked the Clan dress at all, he was self conscious about his scars and he felt exposed without a shirt. His boots were also of a much higher quality, he wasn't one to scrimp when it came to his protective gear. They were made of fine leather and fit snugly, giving his ankles support in case he had to do any jumping around. His chest plate was flexible, but reinforced with durable Kevlar and gave him a sense of security. If any shrapnel were to go flying, at least his torso would be protected.

The others seemed to have no such concerns. Well, Henry wasn't going out in the field so that was no big deal, but Logan didn't seem nervous about going out to plant bombs in little more than black leather pants and boots. There was something to be said for having a healing factor.

Fallen was waiting them in the galley and had some things out on the table. She had set out a nice breakfast of fresh bread and fruit, plus some ground grains as cereal. It was sweetened with some form of honey and was quite tasty. Henry was impressed, he had seen no bees here, never mind farmers growing crops. Most of what she had placed out for them must have been gathered and prepared by either her or Maylee.

Fallen had also put together some small backpacks with travel food and water for Logan and Gambit. The two of them would participate in the actual raids while Henry remained behind on the Lucky Dragon co-ordinating the various teams.

While he ate, Logan looked at what she'd put out for them. "What're those packs for?"

"Let it not be said the Clan treats its prisoners poorly," she teased. "There's some food here for you and some water." She tossed Remy a leather bag. He caught it easily and smiled when he felt the weight of it. He opened it and saw it was full of marble sized ball bearings. "Those might come in handy," she suggested.

"Merci, mon chere," he said with a grin and slipped the pouch into one of his roomy pockets. Cards were good, but bearings even better, they went farther and carried a stronger charge. The stronger the charge, the bigger the bang. He was sorry he'd lost his retractable bo staff to the Dognan, it could've come in handy today. He had his wooden one, but it wasn't the same.

"De rien," she replied to Gambit then laughed when he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Don't get excited, that's the extent of my French other than some swears. Don't be shy with those bearings, I've got plenty more." Fallen turned to Logan as well and locked them both firmly with her eyes. "Now, you two be careful out there. I'm counting on you coming back. I've considered Henry's proposal and a trip back to Earth is sounding more and more appealing. I need you as an excuse to get out of here so try not to get killed, okay?" she said only half joking.

"You'll take us home, then?" Henry asked, his eyes hopeful.

"Yes, if I get the opportunity. If we pull this off today, I might be able to get things rolling quickly so we can all be free of this place. It will take some luck and prayers, but I think I can manage it." She looked back at Wolverine and Gambit. "Be wary of Valentin. Don't let him bully you or use you unwisely."

"We'll be careful. Don't worry," Logan promised, his mood vastly improved by the thought of going home.

She gave them each a small black box. "Take these. Hide them. Those are tracking devices. Only use them if you get in trouble and don't let Valentin know you have them. You activate them like this..." She showed them a small button on one side. "Seth can find you anywhere on this rock. If you activate it, sit tight and we'll come pick you up."

They enjoyed their quick breakfast and ate well, knowing they weren't going to eat so well if they ended up back at the Station. Seth and Kimble joined them a few minutes later from the screen, a welcome surprise. Seth seemed to have recovered from yesterday's trouble and was smiling and joking around with Kimble as always.

They briefly went over the day's plans. They had three targets to hit today if all went well. First was the munitions and fuel dump, the second was a large barracks, and the third was the main Dognan complex itself. The last would be the most risky, since the first two targets were fairly isolated. The last one was a huge building and much better guarded. The hope was that destroying these three main targets would so cripple the Dognan slavers that they would be forced to leave Cerise for good. The truth was, Cerise was so badly damaged from all the fighting, there wasn't much left to keep. What little there was, the Clan wanted and was determined to have it.

They moved into the Main Room and everyone took their places. They settled in and the Lucky Dragon took off for the staging area. The flight was quick, only an hour or so. Henry was interested in the ship and how it was flown, he asked lots of questions and Fallen answered them with a laugh. She was in fact a powerful telekinetic and used her power to guide the ship as well as producing the Ristle as fuel for the engines. The ship could not be flown without her. Henry was sorry they didn't have time to explore the ship further, he would have loved to see the engines and know them better. Perhaps after all of this was done, he might get that chance.

As they flew along, Kimble was joking around and in a good mood as he teased his brother and Fallen. He did in fact have quite the large library of jokes, both dirty and innocent, and he had them all in stitches most of the time. His good humor was infectious and they landed at the rendevous place in high spirits.

They were met outside the Lucky Dragon by Valentin and his crew who had teleported out to the site the night before. Several large squads of men were here to be used for this mission, clumped together with their leaders. Most of them were packing up the gear they had used overnight, folding up the tents and putting out the cooking fires. Logan and Remy joined the alpha squad that was headed up by Valentin and were paired off with their partners for the day. It was believed they would all fare better with the buddy system in place. Logan would go with Valentin and Remy with Bruce.

Bruce wore a modern headset radio that he and Henry had scrounged up from somewhere and was in link with Henry back on the ship. They would stay closely in touch throughout all three stages of the operation and Beast wouldmonitor their progress from the Lucky Dragon. It still surprised Logan to see the odd combination of Medieval and modern out here. Swords and radios, teleporters and bow and arrows. He just shook his head in wonder and kept moving.

Bruce was nearby and he joked and chatted with Justin as he waited for all the various squads to get ready. The two men were playing around, but with such a large crowd of men, showed no signs of intimacy and behaved as if they were nothing more than just good friends. No one seemed to know they were more than that and Beast wasn't about to comment on it. Both men carried bows and shot off a few practice rounds while they waited, showing off. Both were excellent shots and confident.

Reese was there, too, although he would be used for the next trip later this day. It was decided to alternate the teleporters to give each one a break. Jacob would be moving them first. Reese sat crouched at Valentin's feet, a dusty, humble human dog. Like before, he was dressed in the ragged pants and wore no boots. He didn't speak, but growled and barked up at his Master. Valentin would nod and respond back, somehow understanding him perfectly. Reese kept a wary eye on Wolverine, sniffing at him and showing his teeth.

Logan returned in kind, not letting this dirty little creep think he was superior because he was Valentin's Third. Logan stood very close, invading the smaller man's personal space fearlessly and made sure it was Reese who backed down. Valentin let them play their little game without interfering. He was entertaining thoughts of making Logan an officer if he decided to stay. Wolverine certainly seemed very comfortable out here in this military atmosphere and Valentin had no doubt the man would be a valuable asset to the cause.

Valentin made sure everyone had their cloaking devices and that the timers on the charges had all been set properly. All seemed to be in order so they readied to depart. Jacob gathered them all together and concentrated, working his magic. He teleported them in close to the munitions warehouse, a site about two miles from where they had camped.

This was the first of their three targets for the day. The warehouse was located near the ruined city and not well protected considering what was supposedly inside. The Dognan had lost territory here to the Clan raiders bit by bit and were stretched out much too thin to guard it as well as such a tasty target deserved. In spite of this building having been built by an alien race, the structure was similar to any warehouse back home, as if it had been plucked off the earth as the humans had been and placedt here. The warehouse was a long cinderblock building with many windows and doors, most of them open and unguarded. If their information was correct, this building contained weapons and fuel for some of the larger Dognan fighting ships. It should go up with a spectacular bang.

The Clansmen split off into their assigned pairs to plant the charges. Logan had prepared these bundles of explosives for this occasion, cocktails of C4 and dynamite. Logan was playing for keeps. He had trained these men how to handle the explosives over the past weeks, hopefully well enough that no one would get blown up by accident. It had been a crash course, most government agencies back home wouldn't have remotely considered giving such dangerous ordinance to newly trained men, but out here they had to make due with what they had.

The Clansmen and their complimentary X-men were all cloaked and moved about easily for the most part. The Clansmen men had been well trained by Valentin as far as sneaking about without being noticed was concerned and they moved stealthily and quietly. Logan couldn't help but be impressed by their skill and he could now see how these men who lived as little more than savages had gotten as far against the Dognan as they had. The Dognan couldn't retaliate against what they couldn't see or hear. They were as sneaky quiet as any other black ops team Logan had worked with in the past, moving like deadly shadows along the outside walls and up through the windows to get inside.

Wolverine and Valentin came up on a pair of Dognan sentries that were a little more wary then the others but dispatched them quickly and quietly. It was the only the trouble they encountered.

Remy followed Bruce as he had been ordered to, but was still uncomfortable with all of this. He didn't mind the sneaking around, but the explosives they were planning to use made him nervous. He knew those things were tricky and had always refused jobs back home where they were involved. More than one fellow thief in his Guild had blown off a finger or two during a pinch and he wasn't interested in the least in joining their ranks.

They went in through one of the unguarded doors and made their way over to where some large drums of fuel were placed. Gambit was happy enough to let Bruce do all the work as far as planting the bombs near some large containers of fuel and setting the timers. Remy stood over him protectively, holding up his end by covering him in case of trouble. It was quiet in the nook they had chosen and they got in and out with no trouble. Remy couldn't hide his relief when it was over. Maybe all this was going to go more easily than he had feared.

Logan planted his own charges and stepped back to watch over the other teams as they worked. He observed Valentin nearby doing the same and continued to be impressed with Valentin's skill and bravery. Out here, the man was still in charge, but had taken no less risk than his men. He walked silently among the sentries, taking out the threats and placing his own explosive charges himself. Handling explosives was always a risky business even for the well trained, but he showed no fear or concern for himself. He was all business and did what had to be done and got out of there. It wasn't long before all the charges were in place and all the pairs regrouped around the front.

"This is too easy, my friend," Valentin complained with a grin. "I almost feel sorry for them."

"I don't," Logan replied, remembering the pens.

They teleported back in a flash of bright light, reappearing not far from Fallen's ship. They had a spectacular view of the warehouse from their safe distance and watched as it exploded. All the fuel and munitions caught fire and a huge fireball burst out to the sky, going up red and orange and black. A wave of heat and acrid smell washed over them, but it was intensely satisfying. Phase One was complete with ease and no casualties.


	6. Chapter 6

(Six)

Reese, the feral teleporter, was used to bring them in for the next target –the barracks where most of the Dognan soldiers were housed. The Clansmen were grouped in a much larger party for this outing but acted quickly, only moments had passed since the first target was taken out and the Clan wanted to keep the rush going to keep the Dognan running around chasing their tails. Reese surprised Logan by accepting a sword this time and holding it ready. It was clear that in spite of his feral and animal nature, he was capable of holding his own.

Like Jacob, Reese teleported them in not far from the barracks complex. This part of the Dognan facility was located opposite the fuel and munitions dump and wasn't far from the bombed out city. The yellow glowing fence of the pens could be seen in the distance.

There were a lot of Dognan men running around, confused and panicked because of the munitions explosion that had occurred only minutes before. The invaders were sheltered behind a storage shed and hoped the cloaks would keep them from being seen. Again they formed their pairs and split off, leaving Reese behind to wait for their return. He was much too valuable to sacrifice out in the field and the sword he had been given was for his own protection.

The Clansmen scattered quickly, each team going to a prearranged location to set their charges. Logan went with Valentin, Gambit with Bruce again. Logan and Valentin were closest to their designated planting spot and set their charges in place early. They were startled when they heard a loud gun fight not far from where they had left Reese to wait for them. There was a shrill whine as Dognan warships came in from above and shouts from patrols could be heard all around. There were far more men here than the Clan had been led to believe from Bruce's reports.

"Damn you, Bruce!" Valentin cursed and he and Logan raced back to Reese. There they found a small Dognan squad standing around over his shattered body by the shed. Reese had put up quite a fight in his own defense, but there had been too many for him to hold off. Their transportation was now gone.

The Dognan soldiers turned when they heard Valentin and Logan approach and Valentin realized they could now be seen in spite of the cloaking devices. Somehow during the attack the Dognan had discovered the frequency of the cloaks they had been using and had disabled them. That was always the risk when you used someone's technology against them. The Clansmen were now in danger.

Valentin and Logan didn't hesitate, they jumped as one and laid waste to their enemies. The squad hadn't been prepared for the ferocity of their attackers and were taken down easily in spite of being the larger party. The two human warriors were speedy and skillful, they finished their grim work quickly. When they were finished, Valentin stood back and leaned on his huge bloody sword, panting from the effort. He raised an eyebrow at Logan and gave an ironic laugh. "Never a dull moment, eh?"

Logan grinned with real humor. It was hard for him not to like this man who risked so much, so selflessly. Like a modern Alexander the Great, Valentin had learned that men follow real courage and his effect on Wolverine was no less.

Gambit and Bruce came up behind them, out of breath from running. They had managed to plant their charges easily enough but had to fight as well. Both were scratched and bruised from the effort, but still intact. Justin and his partner were right behind them, their own eyes bright from the fighting.

Valentin turned on Bruce as soon as he saw him, viciously back handing him across the face with enough force to spin him around. Bruce reeled in a daze and staggered to his knees with a startled grunt. He hadn't been prepared for Valentin's punishment and had no clue what was going on.

"You idiot!" Valentin howled at him, his earlier humor gone. "You said there would be no patrols! They can see us!"

"It's not his fault! How would he know they would get past the cloaks so quickly?" Justin protested, defending Bruce. His lover could hardly speak, blood was streaming from his nose and he was doing his best to stop the flow as it dripped down his chin. "The Dognan must have figured out the frequency on the cloaks from the last run! They set us up!"

"I'm not interested in his pitiful excuses!" He glared at Bruce who cowered on the ground and pointed at him. "Whoever dies today is on your head!" He clicked on his headset to communicate with the rest of the team. "Fall back to the first marker, people! Reese is gone! We have to run for a pick up!" He reached down and hauled Bruce to his feet, shoving him towards the street. "Move it!"

They ran towards the ruined city, their only choice for survival was to get lost in the ruins and pray someone would come along and pick them up. Bruce was screaming into his headset as they moved, begging Henry to call in some air support to cover their escape. There had been some Clan pilots and ships on standby just for this reason and he was hoping for a little help.

The other team members joined them gradually as they went, a pair at a time. They, too had been met by foot patrols and not all of them had made it back. Only half of Valentin's original party now remained. The Clansmen were durable and sturdy, the wounded kept pace and didn't slow them down.

The group ducked down as the Dognan barracks they had attacked finally exploded behind them, right on time. The Dognan patrols had interrupted their surprise attack, but they hadn't been able to prevent all of the charges from going off. At least this disaster was a partial success.

The Clansmen could hear the whine of Dognan ships barreling down on them as they hit the city. Buildings exploded all around them as the ships fired on them and missed. They had to keep ducking down behind wrecked vehicles and buildings to avoid all the flying shrapnel and debris but they gave a silent cheer when they saw the Clan fighters finally flying in to cover them. The men were now caught in the crossfire of a bitter aerial assault but at least they were no longer the sole target.

One Dognan ship swooped a little low and close to them and Gambit jumped up, ready. He held three of Fallen's ball bearings in his hand, charged them, and gave them a mighty toss. The red glowing missiles hit home and exploded right in front of the ship's cockpit, blinding the driver. The ship jerked wildly and crashed into a building, exploding in a huge blue ball of flame.

"Score one for de Cajun!" Gambit cheered, proud of his handiwork. Taking down a ship in self defense was more than okay on his list in spite of the casualties. He was exhilarated by the explosion and clapped his hands. "An de crowd goes wild!"

They didn't stop to watch the battle continue, but kept on running. They seemed to be making good progress and traveled quickly. They ran out into the streets where it was clear and they could make better time. Too late, Logan realized the danger. He barely had the words out, "Watch out fer mines!" when the ground suddenly exploded out from under him. ]

He jumped wildly to avoid the worst of it, snarling as he felt the shrapnel come up between his feet and rip into his legs and his abdomen. His speed had kept him from taking the worst of it but the pain was horrible. He crashed to the ground and writhed in agony, feeling his blood pool around him with its sickening warmth. He was down, but not out. He just needed a minute to recover.

The others did not fare so well. One of Valentin's men next to him hit another mine and was shredded instantly, blood and gore flew in all directions. Valentin was close to the man and gave a twisted scream as a large sliver of shredded metal impaled his thigh and lodged in his flesh. Men were bellowing and flailing all around, most of them wounded in some way.

"Damnit!" Logan cursed from his heap on the ground. He had tried to train these men about the mines but they simply hadn't had enough time. There was a big difference between a class and actual field experience, and this accident was a glaring example of that. He began pulling the shreds of metal out from his belly and legs. He had to work quickly, it was such a pain in the ass when the flesh healed up around the shrapnel and made it harder to get out.

Valentin grumbled and clutched at his own wounded leg, assessing the damage. The injury wasn't that serious, just painful. He stood up awkwardly and tugged on the metal trapped in his thigh, but it was stuck fast. Unlike Logan, he would have to wait to get it out. A career soldier, he removed his belt from his waist and tied off the injury without further complaint.

"My, Lord!" one of his men cried out in loyalty laced fear and tried to help him.

Valentin shoved him away with aristocratic impatience. "Forget me, let's get out of here!"

Gambit and Bruce helped Wolverine to his feet. He could stand but he wouldn't be able to run for a while. Remy was shaking from the stress, his earlier elation now gone. It was one thing to fire at a ship that crashed and exploded from a distance, it was quite another to see men screaming with their guts ripped out. One man had been cut in half, his entrails spread out between the two halves that were now twitching as he died. Remy felt his gorge rise and couldn't stop himself from puking. He had never been good with blood, he had way too many bad memories with it. His only consolation came that he wasn't the only one, Bruce was hurling right there next to him.

"Let's get this train wreck moving!" Valentin snarled, still well in control of himself and all business. They were out in the open and horribly exposed. The Dognan would be on them any minute.

Logan could sense Remy's fear now that the thief had actually seen the wounded up close. There was no mistaking this caper for the actual war it was and Remy was not in his usual secure environment. It hadn't surprised him that Remy was sick, it wasn't an easy thing to see a man ripped apart like that and the kid was no killer, no matter what he'd been accused of. He gave Gambit's arm a reassuring squeeze and felt him relax a little.

They moved away from the street and back to the buildings where they were better protected. They were going much more slowly and carefully because so many of them had been injured. Still they were getting picked off and one by one their numbers were now drastically reduced.

Wolverine, even injured as he was, watched his steps, making sure he always placed himself in between Gambit and danger. He wouldn't see his teammate harmed, not if he could help it. When they paused here and there, Logan would yank more debris out of himself, grunting softly with impatience. It was already getting hard to get the stuff out, he had to rip and tear a little, only adding to his pain.

Valentin watched him with jealous amusement. "Would that I had your ability, my friend."

"All it means is ya get hurt more," Logan joked wryly and tossed a piece of metal aside.

They reached the outer marker finally. Valentin looked around at the buildings, he saw one he liked and pointed. "There! We'll climb to the roof."


	7. Chapter 7

(Seven)

They entered the building through a bomb shattered doorway and made their way up a rickety staircase to the top floor. Bruce scrambled into a corner, wanting the security of some walls, and called for help on his headset radio. Almost at once, a Dognan ship swooped down and began firing.

Valentin snatched at Bruce's headset and snarled into it with impatient rage into the radio. "Henry! Get us out of here!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but there's no one left!" Beast answered from the other end. "The next wave of pilots won't be here for another half hour! The rest are already there or shot down!"

Wolverine could barely hear the response over the crash of bombs and artillery and he moved closer to Gambit protectively. The thief was leaning against a wall, ducking down and doing his best not to reveal just how terrified he was. He was way out of his league here and it showed, he made no snappy jokes or goofed around as his protective teammate came closer,. He was white as a ghost and wanted no more of this. Buildings were exploding all around them.

"Then send Fallen!" Valentin continued to holler into the headset. It was still attached to Bruce's head and the man winced at his General's tone.

"Sir! The Lucky Dragon wouldn't last a minute in the crossfire!"

Valentin's anger exploded and he snarled, "I didn't say 'send her ship', you moron! I said 'send her'! Tell her to grab a harness and get her ass out here! There's only eight of us left!" He clicked off, furious. They were now trapped on the top floor of the abandoned six story building. The roof was gone and they were protected by only three walls, and those not for long. More Dognan ships flew overhead dropping bombs all around them. The building trembled and groaned in pain, not liking the abuse. The Dognan knew they were there, just not exactly where and were firing all over the place. Valentin turned his wrath on Bruce. "This is all your fault! I should just leave you here!"

"I'm sorry! How could I know they would bypass our cloaks so soon?" Bruce countered weakly. He was terrified of Valentin and it showed.

"It's your job to know these things! I wouldn't have put my men at such a risk if you hadn't told me it was safe!"

"I can only pass on what I've been told, Sir! I didn't make the cloaks!"

"You are still responsible!"

"How long will it take Fallen to get here?" Wolverine said, trying to deflect some of Valentin's rage off of the squirming man. Bruce might be an idiot but he didn't deserve to die for it.

"Not long, maybe ten minutes. If we even last that long."

Wolverine was surprised by Valentin's answer. Lucky was parked twenty miles away at least. With the fire fight going on, Fallen would be at great risk. Valentin saw his disbelief. "She's flown in worse than this," he said proudly with a smile. For a moment, Logan could see that Valentin valued her and on some twisted level, loved her. Logan just couldn't understand what it was between those two.

They waited, all of them nervous and tense. Moments later, Logan heard a familiar rush of wings and Fallen touched down in the middle of the room. She was graceful and confident, a smile on her face as soon as she saw him. Fallen wore the leather harness and had a radio headset on. She carried the usual tangle of leather in her hands, more harnesses for the rest of them. She tossed them down.

"Two at a time," she commanded, instantly in charge. She appeared to be unafraid of the bombs and noise and Wolverine couldn't help but admire her courage. She had a cloaking bracelet on her wrist and threw two more down on the straps. "These are set at a different frequency," she explained to the Clansmen. "Won't keep you from getting shot, but at least they won't have anything to aim at. I'll cover you with my TK as much as I can."

Logan steered Gambit over to her with a gentle shove, silently insisting he go first. Logan wanted him out of here and back where it was safe. Remy didn't argue. He and another of Valentin's men started putting on the straps and bracelets. They stood side by side and Fallen went between them, hovering slightly and clipping their straps to her harness. "Clear?" she spoke into the headset.

"You're clear," Seth's voice came from the radio. He was monitoring the Clan and Dognan ships.

"Ready. Steady. Jump!" Fallen grabbed the two men from their back straps and hoisted them into the air. She really didn't need to touch them, her telekinetic power held them to her. The straps were mostly for the confidence of her passengers. They winked out as the cloaking devices activated and were gone.

"That's my girl," Valentin boasted to Logan. He had seen the feral alpha's fine appraisal of his pilot. "She's not afraid of anything. She used to pull the Dognan men out of the battlefields when she first was made. Some of them are twice our size."

Fallen returned for another round and flew off again. This wasn't taking long at all. A good thing, the bombing was getting worse. One of the walls collapsed and Bruce cowered in the corner, unable to hide his terror. Justin came over and stood above him protectively without comment, silently shielding him with his large body.

Valentin watched this without comment, recognizing Bruce's uselessness out here. He himself hadn't moved at all, he stood at ease as though the bombs would never touch him. _All he needs to do is start talkin' about napalm in the mornin'_, Logan thought to himself, wryly amused at the sight of it.

Fallen touched down again and Bruce snatched for the straps. He was trembling so badly, he almost couldn't get them on. A bomb exploded right next to them and he screamed.

Fallen yelled into her headset. "Seth! We're getting slammed!"

"You've got two ships on your right! The Clan's right behind them! Just sit tight! **Wasayachay a recta set, Fallen.** Don't worry!"

Bruce blinked and looked up in surprise, momentarily distracted from his fright. "Was that Siskan?" he asked, an odd light in his eyes.

Fallen ignored him, but she looked afraid for the first time since she had arrived. She busied herself with untangling some of Bruce's leather harness straps and getting him ready, doing her best to pretend the question hadn't been flung out there for all to hear.

Bruce wasn't going to let it go. He was now looking at Valentin. "Sir?"

"No," Valentin answered for her, his voice betraying uncertainty. His eyes were all over Fallen with renewed interest now as he motioned for Justin to take a set of straps. "It's just some silly words they always say to each other."

Bruce was taking too long. His hands were shaking so badly with the straps and the enemy ships were still too close. More bombs fell, making quite the racket. It was too rowdy out here for comfort.

"**Shreikedickt belanda krishna dect!** Watch yer ass, Fallen!" Kimble hollered next. He hadn't liked the sound of all the destruction and couldn't hide his panic. "Dontcha do nuthin' stupid, girl!"

"Who was that?" Bruce demanded in a near scream, unable to hide the renewed terror that blanched his face. It was unclear what had terrified him more, the situation he was in or the voice that had come over the radio.

He never got a reply. Another bomb exploded and Kimble was shouting into the headset again. "Fallen, gits outta there! Swing ta yer left an go 'round the back way!"

"Left and back, aye!" she shouted. She said nothing more, only rudely grabbed Bruce in her left hand ready or not, and Justin in her right, and vaulted off into the treacherous sky. Now only Wolverine and Valentin were left.

Valentin was clearly thinking hard in reaction to Bruce's questions and didn't speak, working his mind around it. Whatever Bruce had dragged up wasn't a trivial thing, Bruce's response to Fallen's computer personalities had seriously peaked his interest. Pieces to a strange puzzle had just snapped into place in the man's mind and perhaps not in a good way.

Logan didn't like the look in the First General's eyes, like he was hiding something Bruce had just made him realize. Fallen could be in danger and Wolverine considered killing Valentin right then and there. He had lots of good reasons to do this, not the least of which was the way the man had so thoughtlessly abused Fallen earlier. Rape was never justified in his eyes. Just the thought of it made Logan clench his fists. It was too easy for him to forget just how much of monster Valentin truly was out here when the man's bravery and courage blinded him, these were the things Logan admired in a fellow soldier. Still, it would be so easy to take him down in this place. Logan could say he was a casualty of war and no one would question it, especially not Fallen.

Valentin's eyes suddenly shifted towards him as though he just realized exactly what Logan was now thinking. He smiled a wicked grin and laughed. "Tempting isn't it? Just pop a claw and go to it, boy. If you think you can."

"Heh. Too easy, Valentin. Yer not even worth the effort," Logan spat, his resolve gone. It just wasn't in him to kill a man he respected, this much not without a better reason.

Valentin moved in front of him. "Go for it," he challenged arrogantly.

At that moment, Fallen touched down, returning for the two of them. She saw them squaring off but didn't interfere, her pale blue eyes glittering.

Valentin turned to look at her. "Saved by the angel in white," he sneered.

"Don't be so sure," Logan grumbled with a laugh.

Valentin looked into Fallen's eyes and didn't like what he saw there. She was hesitating, actually considering her options. She tossed Wolverine a set of straps, but kept the other harness to herself. Her headset crackled. "Leave th' fuckin' bastard, Fallen!" Kimble shouted, his voice loud and angry. He could hear every word they had said through the headset.

Valentin stood his ground, boring into her with his eyes. "You would do that? Leave me? What about the Four? You swore an oath. Honor, Loyalty, Courage and Sacrifice. You wear the Honor Sword of the Clan. You swore to protect your passengers at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing yourself. Kill me now and you will violate all you hold sacred. Where is your honor now? Your loyalty? I am Clan! You are Clan! Would you sacrifice your honor for something stupid like revenge? I've never done anything you haven't wanted me to and you know it!"

"Don'tcha listens ta him, Fallen!" Kimble insisted. "Grab Logan and run, girl! Do it now!"

As if in answer, another bomb exploded nearby with a thundering crash, reminding them they had little time for arguing. The building couldn't take the continuing abuse, the second wall finally crumbled and collapsed, leaving only one left for them to take shelter from. There was no way they wouldn't be seen by the Dognan ships flying nearby now.

Wolverine stepped up. "You gotta decide now, Fallen. We got no time!"

"You swore to me that you would never be responsible for killing anyone else, Fallen," Valentin continued, changing tack and easing the forcefulness of voice into something more tender. He didn't seem the least bit worried about what was happening here between them, he was just probing her.

Logan shook his head, his suspicions of Fallen's past confirmed.

"Leaving me will be the same as murder and you know it," Valentin said, raising his chin.

Fallen looked at him, torn between what she wanted and what she had to do. A single tear trickled down one cheek. "I hate you," she said finally and tossed him the last set of straps.

"Aw, Fallen, don' be stupid!" Kimble complained. He knew what her last transmission had meant. "You ain't never gonna get another chance to be free!"

"Fallen!" Seth called out next, breaking his silence. He could hear as well as Kimble what was going on out there and didn't like it.

"I'm sorry, guys," she whispered and shut her headset off, not wanting to hear their voices any more.

Valentin chuckled softly as he slipped the straps on, his emerald eyes all over her. "Someday, you'll realize you need me as much as I need you. You'll never kill me, not even for your pathetic little programs. Deep down inside you know it's just you and me, Fallen. Forever."

"Fuck you!" she snarled and leapt into the air. Valentin laughed as she jerked both him and Wolverine into the dangerous sky. They clicked their cloaking devices on and became invisible.


	8. Chapter 8

(Eight)

Fallen flew them quickly over the bombed out city. She covered a lot of ground swiftly, spurred on by her anger. Logan watched the terrain go by in a blur, her scent telling him everything. She was hurt and angry, cursing herself for her honor. Like her, Wolverine was worried that she had made the wrong decision in sparing Valentin's life, but understood that it wasn't easy to kill. It wasn't Logan's place to judge her so he let it go.

Fallen dropped them off outside the ship and stomped up the ramp to the ship, saying nothing to anyone. Valentin watched her go, a strange look on his face. Logan was surprised to recognize it as genuine concern and shook his head. He would never be able to figure these two out in a million years.

Logan made his way stiffly up the ramp. He wanted to shower and see if he could get any more of the shrapnel that was still jammed in his guts out. He wouldn't get it all, it would ease out slowly on its own, making him itch like mad. He still had some red blotchy scars from where the debris had cut him and was smeared with dried blood, but the injury now looked worse than it was. Nothing that a good hot shower wouldn't fix.

He was making his way to barracks room when he passed Bruce in the Main Room. Bruce was wandering around Fallen's ship in a sort of daze, looking for something with a puzzled look on his face. He was bruised and battered from Valentin's abuse, filthy from their mad dash through the ruined city, and looked lost and confused. "You all right?" Logan asked him, concerned for the man.

"Yeah, fine," Bruce replied, clearly lying as his eyes shifted around the room. He realized that Logan was studying him and nervously made his way into the galley.

Wolverine watched him go, not sure what Bruce was up to. It vaguely occurred to him that Bruce was looking for the Siskans he'd heard chattering on the radio. Logan was aware that few, if any, of the Clansmen knew the true nature of Fallen's little program. She had asked Henry to keep their ability to come out in the hologram a secret and maybe there had been a good reason for that. Logan looked to the screen, but the control room there was empty, the twins were off hiding somewhere.

As if on cue to Logan's unspoken question, he heard Kimble and Fallen begin to argue loudly from below. The sliding trap door was closed, but Logan could hear them just fine. Kimble was put out over Fallen shutting the radio off on him and was making sure she knew it. He couldn't believe she had given up the one chance to be free of her tormentor.

Logan could hear Kimble's pain and sympathized in spite of his own reservations against the guy. Kimble could do nothing to protect her, not even from her own bad decisions and it was obviously driving the Siskan crazy. Wolverine paused and shook his head, chagrined at himself. How could he be thinking this way about Kimble? The guy wasn't real, his emotions were all programmed and artificial. Logan refused to see him as real, no matter how convincing the image. He was surprised Fallen allowed him to berate her so ferociously. He would have shut the guy down a long time ago.

Logan turned when he saw Valentin come up the ramp from outside. He was limping and sore from his injury, his wounded leg was still tied off with the belt and untended. Valentin paused when he heard Kimble let go with a spectacular stream of profanity, ending only when he started to bawl, his anger too great to hold back. Something slammed from below and the argument ended abruptly.

Valentin laughed. "Oh, he's got quite the temper doesn't he? Stupid child."

Logan stepped back when the door to the lower level slid open. Fallen came up in a huff, her face flushed and angry. She said nothing to them, but passed them to go into the galley. There was the sound of breaking glass and Bruce came out, Fallen's anger had frightened him from his hiding place. He quailed when he saw Valentin. He was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"You!" Valentin snarled at him. Apparently he wasn't quite finished chewing Bruce's ass out and was more than ready to resume the man's punishment. "You allowed us to be seen! They know we will come again! Now we have to start all over again!" He slapped the man again, a heavy devastating blow. "All that time and planning wasted!"

Bruce crumpled and continued to grovel. Blood gushed from his nose again and he trembled uncontrollably. The poor man was obviously teetering on some kind of edge and looked ready to break at any moment. "My, Lord!" he begged, hoping uselessly for mercy. "The information I had came from your spies out in the field! They've never failed me before! Something unforeseen must have happened! It's not my fault, I swear!"

"I am not interested in your petty excuses! Get out of my sight!"

Bruce covered his face and fled, passing Logan without a glance.

Valentin snorted in disgust and limped into the galley, looking for Fallen. Logan followed him in case he started in on Fallen in his frustration, but kept his distance. He leaned in the doorway and watched as Valentin went to his pilot and attempted to console her.

Fallen stood over the sink, picking up the pieces of broken glass from her temper tantrum. There was plenty of it to pick up and room reeked of whiskey now. She was shaking with rage but doing her best to calm down. She tossed the glass into a bin and snatched another bottle from the rack, not letting one broken bottle keep her from her goal of blotting all of this out. She opened it with a claw and drank a large gulp of whiskey down as if it was nothing.

Valentin stood behind her and carefully put his hands on her shoulders. "Why do you keep this Kimble fool around if he angers you so?" he asked her quietly. "You should have scrapped him long ago, along with all the other junk that never worked right on this ship."

"He's not the one making me angry," she snapped.

Valentin grunted a laugh. "Surely, not I?"

Fallen found no humor in his joke, her voice was quite serious as she said, "My service to the Clan is coming to an end, Valentin. Things between us will change."

"How so?" He bent down and kissed her bare white shoulder.

"This. This will stop." She turned and pushed him away firmly but without malice.

He grinned. "No. I don't think so. You're mine and always will be."

She shook her head. "I've come to terms with what I've done. I don't need you any more."

"Really? You're releasing me from my duties?" he said with a contemptuous laugh. "I've grown much too fond of you, my dear. You'll not be rid of me so easily. Perhaps my hand has been a bit heavy, yes, but you've done well under it. You've come a long way from that snarling little she-bitch Cerebus dragged from the pens."

"I don't want to talk about that," she whispered and turned away.

"You brought it up, my dear. Now, enough of this foolish talk of change. Tend to me."

She looked back at him and saw that he was injured. His leg was still tied off with his belt and most of the bleeding had stopped, but it would need to be cared for. She nodded and helped him to undress, careful of his pants around where the piece of shrapnel protruded.

Valentin sat on the table, stretching his wounded leg out in front of him, the other bent over the bench. The wound was still fresh and blood seeped out onto the table, flowing now from the movement. Fallen stood easy beside him and lay her hands on his thigh carefully, examining him. She ignored him as he sniffed at her and closed her eyes. She was using telekinesis to 'feel' the metal shard and gently slide it out, it would be less painful than if she were to dig it out with her hands.

Valentin still grunted with pain in spite of this and grabbed a fistful of her hair, bringing her closer. He wasn't really pulling on her, he was simply bringing her up close, seeking her comfort.

Logan stood as he was, still watching them. Their body language spoke volumes. These two were bonded and in spite of their sick little game, had a relationship that was beyond abuser and prey. As brutal as Valentin had been to her before, now he was gentle and it wasn't just because he needed her to do something for him. Wolverine knew that in order to ensure Fallen would bring them home he would have to get her away from this man. Now more than ever, he regretted not killing Valentin. Funny how it was the gentleness that made Wolverine feel this way and not the vicious abuse.

Fallen eased the long sliver out and Valentin relaxed, releasing her. He smoothed her hair out gently, putting her back in order. "You're so very good, my Fallen," he said, licking his lips.

Fallen wouldn't meet his eyes and moved away. She tossed him the bottle of whiskey and ordered. "Drink this."

He took it and chuckled softly at her arrogance, he seemed to like it when she bossed him around. Fallen paid him no mind. She took out a med-kit and some fresh towels and she began to clean his wound, being careful and doing a decent job of it. She was drunk now, but it didn't seem to affect her ability to care for him.

Valentin petted her as she worked, smiling the whole time. He didn't acknowledge Logan's presence in the doorway even though he'd seen him there. Valentin's eyes were on her, glowing with a sick kind of love. He flinched once as she stitched him, but otherwise showed no sign that she was hurting him. She ignored his touch but didn't move away from him or avoid him. It was though she didn't care one way or the other. Logan shook his head. It was beyond his ability to figure these people out.

"Y' know..." Logan drawled, getting back to business. "...the Dognan knew we were there today. Of course we got our cover blown. I'm guessin' they think we're gonna tuck tail an run. Let's go back in few hours anyways. We got nuthin' ta lose."

Valentin rubbed his chin and looked at Fallen. "Can you reset the cloaks? We'll need at least twenty."

"Yes, my Lord. If it takes me all night."

He looked back at Logan, pleased that this alpha had read his mind. Again, he considered Wolverine's suitability for an officer's position. "First light, then?"

"First light," Logan repeated as a farewell and left. Before he got too far, he heard Valentin say to Fallen, "All night? I hope you've got some time to spare for me."

"Of course, my Lord," she whispered tonelessly.

Logan left them and went for his shower, not wanting to hear any more. Whatever this thing was between them, he wanted no part of it.

Wolverine freshened up and after a quick catnap, rose to find Fallen seated on the floor in front of the main room's big screen. The screen was blank, just swirling static. In one corner was a small window showing the control room used by Kimble and Seth. The chairs were empty, the brothers off in the system somewhere. Fallen sat, kneeling with her head down. The bottle of whiskey, now empty, sat in front of her. One of her wings was slightly bent and not folded completely, Valentin had bruised it in his passion. At least she was otherwise unharmed.

Wolverine stood in the doorway of the barracks, watching her. The ship was empty, all the Clansmen were settling down to sleep outside where there was more space. Logan walked over to Fallen and crouched down beside her. "You okay?"

"Kimble is angry. I need him to help me with the cloaks but he won't come."

"You can't do it alone?"

"He helped me build them. He knows them best," she explained in a soft trembling voice. She looked as though she was on the verge of tears, but it could just be the exhaustion. The stress of this was taking its toll on them all.

"He'll be back." Wolverine put a hand on her shoulder, concerned about her. Her white skin was very warm like she had a fever. She was also very drunk. "He seems to care about you."

"Do you like him?" she asked, proud in spite of her pain. Logan could see she'd been crying earlier, her eyes were red and swollen. "He's not all that different from you. My protector. It's why I made him look a little like you."

He shook his head with a smile, amused by her crush. He didn't buy into her reasoning, though. Kimble was a child and reckless with his emotions and anger, nothing like him at all. Still, he said, "You really know that much about me?"

"Oh, yes, I know all the legends. I knew of you long before I got taken. I know all about you X-men, how you would fight so gallantly for freedom and the rights of everyone." She sniffed, her smile wistful now. "Kimble's like that. He wants to protect me, look after me. Keep me safe. He takes it very seriously like you do. Only, heh, he's more of a clown than you are, more like my husband was."

"You were married before?"

"Yeah. Had some kids. They're all dead now. The Dognan took who they wanted, destroyed the rest," she said quietly. "It was a long time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Now Kimble is mad because I let Valentin live. I deserve what Valentin did to me tonight," she said, flexing her wing slightly to reveal an ugly terrible bruise. "I should have let him die."

"It ain't no easy thing, killin' someone. But I suspect ya already know that, though." He paused, waiting for her to respond. When she didn't, he continued. "You don't deserve what he does to you, though. I can't understand why ya think you do, girl. I've seen it before, women thinkin' that they've done some terrible thing and this all they're worth. Yer better than this, Fallen."

"No, I'm not," she replied, keeping her eyes down. "You don't know anything about me."

"Enlighten me then. What's yer trouble, darlin'?"

She just shook her head and was silent.

Logan looked up at the screen and at the empty chairs. "Maybe you should get some rest. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day."

"I'll wait here. Seth will come in his place if I wait long enough."

"Ya want me ta stay?"

She gave him a tired smile. "No, I'll be okay."

"All right, then." He stood and walked away towards the ramp, he wanted a little fresh air before going to bed for some real sleep. He looked back before he went outside, seeing her there. She was a tiny white figure crouched in front of that huge screen, lost. He didn't want to leave her, but there wasn't anything he could do to help her.

Just as Logan turned away, he heard Seth call her name, the young pilot had come back to the control room. Wolverine watched as Fallen stiffly rose and walked to Seth's small window. Seth had raised his hands up to the screen and she put her own hands over his, taking some small comfort from that strange contact. They began to whisper to each other, words of love and caring that revealed a whole other kind of love than what she shared with Valentin. Whatever this was, it was beautiful and real. They spoke in Siskan and Logan couldn't interpret what they were saying exactly, but it didn't mean he didn't understand. Seth was so terribly sad, his much too realistic artificial heart breaking, and his voice shook as he spoke. He started to cry and his Mistress soothed him, speaking to him with love and gentleness. She would fix this, somehow, some way.

It was the strangest thing Logan had ever seen. Unable to fathom it, he shook his head in exasperation and walked out, needing some fresh air.


	9. Chapter 9

(Nine)

Logan made his way down the ramp and to the outside of the ship. Valentin's men were camped out all around in their tents, trying to get as much rest as they could before tomorrow's raid. He decided to make a quick trip around the ship's perimeter, years of being concerned with security were hard to ignore and Logan was a creature of habit. He was off around the dark side of the ship when he heard soft voices coming from the scrub close by.

Instantly on alert, Wolverine went to check it out. He found Bruce and Justin alone by the one scraggly tree that leaned nearby. He didn't make himself known to them, but approached them silently. They had stolen away to this isolated spot for a private conversation yet Logan couldn't help himself but want to listen in. He wasn't an eavesdropper by nature, but with everything that was going on, he found himself doing it more and more. He paused and crouched down to listen.

"You're worried about tomorrow, aren't you?" Justin asked Bruce, his eyes lingering on his partner's face. Bruce had a large, ugly bruise on one side from being struck by Valentin and he looked completely miserable. Justin was quick to soothe, "Don't be. We'll all be fine, you'll see."

"We came too close the last time. I always worry that we won't make it back," Bruce said softly. He leaned forward and gave Justin a passionate kiss, seeking comfort for his pain.

Logan balked a little at the sight of it, swallowing hard. Oh, so that's how it was. Excuse me, please. He'd had no idea there was anything more than just friendship between them.

Justin returned the kiss, laughing softly and pulling Bruce closer. He spoke gently now, happy to ease his lover's pain. "We have to make this raid. It's the only way to be sure everyone is safe. Once the Dognan are gone we will all be free. Any sacrifice made will be a small price paid." He brushed Bruce's hair back in a tender, loving gesture.

It made Logan shiver with revulsion, he wasn't used to seeing that kind of intimacy between two men and it unnerved him a little. Still, he kept quiet, interested in what Justin had to say.

Justin's voice was sincere as he spoke, "Just remember that no matter what happens, I loved you from the moment I first saw you. I have never loved anyone else."

"Don't frighten me," Bruce whispered in a trembling voice. He was in pain and small and fragile here in this moment. "I couldn't live without you. Not here. Not with Valentin and the others. Not anywhere. Promise me you won't let anything happen."

Justin shushed him with a dreamy whisper. "Hush now about all that. Forget about everything, lover. Let's just pretend that none of this is happening and it's just the two of us out by Pastor's lake. The moon is out and bright. The fish are jumping just enough to break the surface of the water-"

"It's spring and the chickburries are roosting down for the night," Bruce finished for him, his voice soft and wistful as he joined in the game. Justin had succeeded in calming him and he was relaxed now, happy to be here in his lover's embrace.

Justin laughed. "That's right. Pastor's lake and nothing but the fall hunt to look forward to."

"I wish we could go back there again. I'm so sick of this war."

"Just close your eyes and you will be." Justin tipped Bruce's head back and kissed him again, this time more forcefully and full of passion. "Just close your eyes..." He reached for Bruce's belt buckle and Logan took that as his cue to leave.

Wolverine slipped silently away through the scrub and made his way back to the ship. He might not have approved of their relationship, but the intimacy and recollections of the two men filled him with a longing for home. He was tired of this dark and cloudy world. He wanted to see the bright moon and smell the crisp air of Canada. He no longer doubted that he and his teammates would get back home, but Justin's comment about sacrifices pained him. He just hoped they would all come back alive.

Logan was about to go back up the ramp when he saw Remy leaning against the side of the ship smoking. He wandered over to join the thief in a smoke, his homesickness making him feel oddly gregarious.

Remy smiled at him as he approached. He seemed to have recovered from their horrible day and was his usual chipper self. " 'Ey, short stuff. Fallen get dose cloaks done or what?"

"Kimble's givin' her a hard time. She says she needs him to help her but he's still pissed off."

"What 'appened out dere today? You an Valentin' come back wit 'er den she an' Kimble went at it pretty hard."

Logan briefly explained about Valentin and how Fallen had almost left him behind. He didn't mention Valentin's confirmation that Fallen had killed someone, he figured it was a private matter and Gambit didn't need to know. He shook his head, thinking of Fallen and Valentin. "I'm never going to figure those two out."

"P'etetre, if you wasn't so closed off, you'd see it a little better, non?"

"Really? Enlighten me then."

Gambit shrugged. "Fallen been wit Vally a long time. She comfortable now. She t'inkin' she done sumptin' bad and she need to be punished. She chose Vally to 'elp her out. He seems pretty qualified, n'est ce pas? Anyways, now she found sumptin' better. Now she not so sure what she wants to do cause she scared. Girl's are like dat."

Logan grunted a laugh at the young man. "You know the ladies that well, huh?"

"Bien sur. Gambit is good. Gambit is wise. 'E knows many t'ings, non?" Remy laughed.

Logan shook his head and grinned. "Right," he agreed sarcastically, thinking of all the flying dishes and debris from Rogue's hot temper. These two could put up quite a ruckus when it came to their own domestic battling. "But yer wrong about Seth bein' better. The guy ain't even real."

"Don' matter. 'E's real to 'er. Who's to say it ain't right?"

Logan snorted and looked away.

"She get more from Seth dan I get from Rogue," Remy offered. "You sayin' me an Rogue ain't real?" Rogue was Remy's girl. She was one of their teammates and like them, she was also mutant. Her 'gift' was that she could absorb a person's personality and life energy just by touching them with her bare skin. It wasn't a pleasant experience for her or her victims. She would get swamped and lost with their psyche imprinted on hers and they would lose consciousness and become quite ill. Her power was so potent, she could kill just from prolonged contact. To protect herself and others, she covered herself from head to toe, cutting herself off from all physical contact. Remy's curse was that he was hopelessly in love with a girl he could never completely touch.

"That ain't the same," Logan protested.

"Non? Why, den?"

"'Cause yer alive, okay? Flesh an' blood. Maybe you kids'll work it all out someday."

"Yeah. Mebbe Fallen an Seth will, too if dey ever get de chance."

Logan waited a moment and then asked the question that was really on his mind. "You gonna be good to go in the mornin'?"

"Sure t'ing, patron. Dis boy de picture of readiness. Gonna kick some Dognan ass," the thief replied merrily but was betrayed by a shiver of fear his feral teammate could sense.

Wolverine was quick to reassure. "You just remember what I said. This is a war. It's our war whether we wanted it to be or not. We gotta do this thing. Just think about yer girl. Think about Rogue. Yer keepin' her safe. Don't want any of those Dognan creeps gettin' their paws on her. We do this an they'll keep away from our world, too."

"Gambit's with de program. 'E won' let you down."

Logan didn't answer but gazed off into one of the nearby camp fires. He finished his cigarette and crushed it out. "I'm gonna get some sleep while I can. You should, too."

"I'll be up in a minute."

"Right." Logan left him and went up the ramp. Fallen was gone from the Main Room, but he could hear her and Seth talking below. Hopefully she was getting the cloaks done with or without Kimble. He went into the barracks and settled down on one of the beds. He was tired and dropped off quickly.

He woke only an hour later from a vague and troubling dream. He didn't really remember it, only that he and the other X-men had narrowly avoided death somehow. He shivered, hating nightmares. He had enough from his own life without dragging Henry and Gambit into them. He sat up in his bed and looked around, the others were nearby, sleeping while they had the chance. It would be a couple of hours before the next strike, assuming Fallen got the cloaks fixed on time. He got up to go to the galley for a drink. As he passed the opening to the lower level, he heard voices coming from below. It seemed Kimble had returned from wherever he'd gone to vent his anger, he could hear the Siskan's voice in the group. Logan crept down the stairs, but didn't go as far down the hall. Kimble had detected him too easily before.

From his position, Logan could see the Kimble hologram standing next to his Mistress at the workbench. They were working on the cloaking devices and he was carefully coaching her on how to modify them, gesturing with his hands and talking softly. One more moment and Fallen set the bracelet down. "There. Done. That's the last one." It was very late and she was clearly exhausted.

"These had better work," Seth said in his usual worry.

"They'll work," Kimble said reassuringly. Even so, his voice seemed as tired and weary as Fallen's. He shivered and the image of his skin melted away back to the square of hologram particles, Kimble was done working and had returned to the system. He was still speaking though, "These'll git those X guys back in one piece sos we kin use 'em ta git offa this stupid rock."

Logan pricked up his ears. He was relieved to hear that Fallen's plan to get them home was still in the works. It made all of his longings for home come back. They were so close now he could almost taste it. Canada, here I come. He made a silent promise to himself to make a run up there as soon as they got back. It had been a long time since his last visit and he could use the time off after this.

"What's it like on Earth?" Seth wanted to know. He was curious and shy like a small child.

Fallen smiled up at him. "It's very beautiful, my love. Big blue skies, fresh clean air. Hmm...It'll be nice. Once we find the access code for the hologram and get it working the way it should, I'll take you boys out. Then you'll see how beautiful it is for yourselves."

"Cain't wait. I'm sick of bein' stuck here in the ship," Kimble complained.

"You'll have to share, Kimble," Fallen admonished motherly. "At least until I can figure out where to get enough material and cubes for another hologram."

"I kin handles that, no problem," he said with real enthusiasm. He walked back into the control room and gave Seth a big squeeze. "Just thinks of all the fun we'll be havin'. I kin hardly waits."

Seth seemed pleased by this idea, but he was still nervous. "How do you know Cerebus will agree to let us go?"

Fallen was quick to answer. "Because I am First Pilot and it is my privilege to take them. They will ask him to go home and he'll ask for a volunteer. If I want it, he'll have to give it to me."

"Are you sure it's safe for you to jump?"

"She kin jump fine," Kimble answered for her. "Yous two jus' relax, I'm gonna take care a both a yous, you'll see. I gots this ship so fine tuned Fallen kin jump it in her sleep. Piece a cake."

"What about May?"

Fallen laughed. "Seth, darling. You worry too much. She's coming with us. She's better off growing up away from the Clan anyways."

"Just a matter a time 'fore one of em' does her wrong as it is," Kimble said quietly. He hadn't like the way Joseph had looked at her one bit and Logan didn't blame him.

"What about an escort? Won't they make us go with an escort?"

"No. At least not a formal one. I'll have Logan ask to leave right away. Cerebus won't refuse him and there will be no time to assemble a real party to go with us. If we get a couple of Clan officers, they'll just get the adventure of their lives, that's all."

"No mercy, that's my girl," Kimble grumbled pleasantly. "We kin find a nice place ta dump 'em easy. Y' know? Like fuckin' Alaska. Heard they got some right nice snow up there. I'd like ta see it m'self. Maybe Antarctica..."

"And Valentin?" Seth continued to worry, ignoring his brother.

"Heh, too fuckin' busy celebratin' ta worry 'bout us," Kimble answered without missing a beat. His mood had improved by the thoughts of waylaying helpless Clansmen in places they would not enjoy. He heard Fallen yawn. "Maybe you should gits some sleep, baby doll. They'll be leavin' soon. I'll wake ya up when it's time."

Fallen yawned and stretched. "Good night, boys. Thanks for helping me."

"Good night.** Wasayachay natooroo, my Fallen,**" Seth said. He sounded like he missed her already.

"Night, Fallen. C'mon, Seth. How's about a nice game a chess? I promise not ta kick yer ass too badly, huh?" Kimble laughed and dragged his brother away, protesting.

Fallen laughed and moved over to the shop bed, curling up before shutting off the lights. Satisfied himself, Logan slunk away and returned to his own bed. This was all going to work out just fine.


	10. Chapter 10

(Ten)

Remy stood outside the ship, waiting. The morning air was crisp but had no moisture in it, not like home. This area was little more than a wasteland now. The stark countryside did little to raise his spirits and he was not looking forward to what had to be done today. He wasn't much of a practicing Catholic these days, but found himself saying a soft little prayer, "Please, just dis once, Lord. Let dis pitiful t'eif do de right t'ing. 'E knows 'e ain't perfect, an' 'e knows 'e ain't never gonna be good enough to be wit you, but 'e needs so much to know dis is really okay, comprenez?"

He didn't get an answer, but was startled when he felt soft, gentle hands touch him softly. He turned to see Fallen standing behind him. "Yes, petite?" he asked quietly.

"Don't be afraid about today. I won't try to justify this for you with stupid, pitiful reasons, but just look at me, Remy. Look at me and see what they've done. They took me from my home, killed my people, and did this thing to me. Do you know how many human females die just so one pilot can be made? Huh? Eight. I don't know what kept me alive. I like to think that when God or whoever is out there decides that it's not our time, that there's a reason. I think he kept me alive for this. To stop them from hurting anyone else. You've come close to death so many times and walked away. Don't you think there might be a reason for that?"

"I used to t'ink so, chere. Now, Gambit ain't so sure. He ain't no killer."

"No, he's the saver of lives. Lives saved for the lives lost." Gambit shivered, and she gripped him tightly. "Yes, I know about you, Remy, but don't worry. You're in good standing with me. I know what it's like to fuck up and forever be apologizing for it."

"You couldn't know what dis is like, dis pain. Dere ain't no greater crime dan mine."

She kissed him gently with a sad smile. "Don't be so sure."

She pulled away from him and started to walk away from him, her head down. He watched her go, a pained, perplexed look on his face. It was true he did not know her well and couldn't possibly know the pain and suffering she had endured in her life. He recalled Valentin's savage beating and how she allowed him to do it. She had said something about a terrible crime to Kimble. He hoped she hadn't fallen from Grace as far as he had. He couldn't bear the thought of anyone else suffering his level of personal pain and internal persecution.

She paused when she saw him looking at her with all of that so plain on his face and said gently, "I know you'll do well today, my good Gambit. He's out there looking after you, your God. Do your best and He will see it."

"Merci, mon chere," he said, feeling a little better. "Maybe He lookin' out after us all, non?"

She nodded slowly and walked away to where the rest of the men had gathered. She began speaking to Valentin and Remy looked away, his spirits raised by their brief conversation. He laughed when he felt something large and blue bump him affectionately.

"Woolgathering so early? Not a good idea on a day such as this. I trust you slept well and are ready to dive into battle, flags waving?" Henry said with a laugh.

"Yeah, dat's me all right. Yee haw," Remy replied, rolling his eyes.

"Good. Remember your only mission for today is to come back alive. Don't do anything stupid."

"You mean, don' do anyt'ing Wolvie would?"

"I heard that," Logan growled good naturedly from behind Beast. He roughly grabbed both Henry's and Remy's hands in his own. "Nobody dies today," he said as a vow and released them. He didn't wait for their response but kept walking until he stood next to Fallen and Valentin.

"He's certainly chipper today," Henry commented.

"Dis is 'is t'ing, mon ami. 'E a closet general. 'E probably all bummin' dey won' be givin' 'im a medal for dis."

"No, they'll just stick that big sword tattoo on him."

Gambit grunted, "'E's too short, homme. It be comin' down round 'is knees."

"Too true, my friend."

Remy turned as he heard Justin come up behind him. "You ready?"

"Ready as Gambit's ever gonna be, mon ami."

Justin was going to be his partner on today's little trip. Fallen would be flying the two of them — hopefully in secret this time — close to the Dognan base where they would sneak in and plant more of Logan's explosives. Valentin and his group would create a diversion outside to draw out the soldiers and keep them from being detected. Unlike Remy, Justin seemed up for the job and was acting as though this was just an ordinary day and this a regular trip to the park.

Justin shook his shoulder roughly. These Clan guys were very strong and Remy staggered a bit, something that amused the Clansman. "Don't worry, I'll cover your ass, little brother," Justin teased and slid his pack on. He was carrying two sets of leather straps as well and he handed one to Gambit. "Put this on. Hope that pilot doesn't drop us on our asses. It's a long way down!"

"It's quite nice, the Fallen express," Henry said with a smile. "It's a nice view."

"Gambit wouldn't know. 'E slept t'rough one trip, got shot at de other," the thief complained unhappily.

"Well, try to enjoy this flight then. Just pretend it's Rogue." Henry patted Remy's shoulder and walked back up the ramp. He was co-ordinating the diversionary skirmish via head set with Bruce.

"Who's Rogue?" Justin asked, his teasing smile giving away that he probably already knew the answer.

"She a girl back home."

"I take it she can...fly?"

Remy grinned mischievously. "Among other t'ings, oui."

Fallen came up at a trot. "Ready?"

They donned their leather reindeer harnesses and were soon aloft. Henry was correct about the view. Even this savage wasteland had a kind of beauty from this high up. Fallen was swift and sure as she navigated her way to the drop off point. In the distance, Gambit could see the huge Dognan complex crouching in its crater. This building was further away from the city and better protected. It was a large star shaped structure with many out buildings and parked vehicles. He remembered how Logan had chuckled over the blue prints, saying how the place had been designed so poorly. It was too spread out to give a proper defense, the biggest weakness being the wide sprawling duct work. Maybe the Dognan guys who made it couldn't fit inside the ducts because they were so large and then assumed no one else could as well. Either way, whoever had designed it didn't count on having Clansmen move in like this for crazy guerilla warfare.

Remy prayed the cloaking devices were working as he could see patrols of Dognan soldiers running about. The Dognan slavers had an idea the Clan would up to something this day, but didn't know what. They had people spread out all over, but Remy saw with relief that none of them appeared to notice the arrival of their uninvited guests.

Fallen found the small out building that housed the air duct opening and dropped off her two passengers. They touched down lightly and Fallen collected her leather straps, hiding all evidence of their arrival. She checked her head set radio with the one Remy pulled out of his backpack, she would be keeping tabs on their progress inside and give them directions if they needed it. She had her own small backpack with a tiny hand held computer, a device she would be using to track them inside the building. She had given Gambit a transmitter just before they left the ship that was tied into that little computer, her hand held device had a map of the complex and she would guide them along if they got lost - or heaven forbid, come in after them if things got really bad.

After she was sure they were all set, she gave Remy a small kiss on the cheek. "Be brave. Be safe."

"No worries, chere."

She smiled gently and took off to hide behind some scrub bushes nearby. She would wait there for twenty minutes or so or until she heard a signal from them upon their return.

Remy took out a small leather bag of tools and began working on the screen for the duct, his fingers swift and sure. He missed the fine set he had back home, most of those were battery powered and he could work more quickly. Before they left, Fallen had given him free reign in the shop, letting him take whatever tools and equipment he might need for this job. He had grabbed a small set of screwdrivers and wrenches wrapped in a leather skin and tied with a thong. It was a decent set and he was pleased when Fallen told him he could keep it. He had also taken another good sized bag of ball bearings, he had no intention of letting any of those cat guys get close.

The screen came away easily and he set it gently aside. He slid inside and Justin followed. The ventilation shaft was very long and it would take some time for them to get to the energy generator. It was also quite dusty. He had anticipated this and had made sure they were both wearing some bandana sized rags around their necks to pull over their noses and mouths. One good sneeze could give them away.

Gambit was dressed in his regular working clothes, they had been made for this kind of work and he was grateful to have them. He still wore his chest plate for extra protection, but it was made of a thick, rubbery plastic that allowed him to bend to a point. It didn't restrict him from squirming around. He just hoped Justin could keep pace with him. Gambit was lithe and nimble, but he didn't know if his larger, older companion had the required acrobatic ability to follow him.

They crawled through the duct work as quietly as possible and weren't detected. Remy had memorized the directions Kimble had laid out, but wasn't worried. If need be, he could call up Fallen to get his bearings. This wasn't the first time he had to crawl through vast duct work to get to a destination and he was comfortable here. The only part of him squirming was his conscience. He just kept telling himself this was just another job, just another diamond or prized statue. He held Rogue's image in his mind. He was doing this for her, to keep her safe from another possible unannounced Dognan slave raid. No one else would be taken, he vowed.

Good thing he had no fear of tight spaces. At times the duct work narrowed and he had to stretch and flex to get around corners. To his amazement and relief, Justin maintained a steady pace behind him, grunting softly here and there. At one point, Remy heard Justin's back crack with a loud pop as he navigated a particularly obnoxious bend in their path. He waited for the yelp of pain, but instead got a low chuckle and heard Justin calling himself an old man. In spite of the danger, Justin was having a blast.

They were halfway to their destination when the heard the alarms go off. Right on time, Valentin had begun his diversion. Remy paused for a moment, happy as he listened to the sound of Dognan soldiers galloping by behind the wall, away from where they were hiding. He moved faster, not wanting to put Valentin's efforts to waste.

Remy and Justin had no trouble until they got to the reactor room. The shaft they were in ran along the ceiling and Remy looked down through a large grate. He gave a soft cry of dismay when he saw that the room had easily twice as many workers as they had anticipated and more than a few guards as well. This was becoming a regular bad habit, always being outnumbered, and not a good sign. He used hand signals to communicate this to Justin, but Justin motioned for him to keep going anyway. They could do this, but would probably lose their advantage of stealth. Remy opened the screen quietly and they entered.

Remy dropped down first, falling silently behind a pair of guards. He was quick and soundless as he dropped them efficiently with a well placed series of blows and nerve pinches. Justin was just as proficient and far more lethal, he was a well trained soldier with many years of experience and knew full well what would be required here. He went at the Dognan workers with gusto, taking down three of them quietly with his bare hands before he was even detected. He moved on, not even hesitating when the alarm was sounded in this area and they could hear the sound of heavy boots come running from outside the energy generator room's door.

Gambit did his best to cover himself but couldn't help but balk at the idea of actually killing these men. It just wasn't in him to do it even though he knew these Dognan guys would just get blown up anyway. He bashed them about, knocking them senseless to the floor, but couldn't bring himself to finish them off.

A small squad of soldiers came in and Remy was left with no choice but to bring them down, they were waving those horrible energy guns around, moving this to the next level. Remy gritted his teeth and shut off all of his emotions, using all of his training he'd received as a X-man and a thief to clear a path to the reactor.

Justin and Remy were like two engines of death, coordinating things wordlessly as though they had been teamed up all their lives. Gambit kicked and spun with lethal accuracy, sending an energy gun flying. Justin grabbed at it almost instinctively and began firing, vaporizing three Dognan men before the tide stopped flowing, the next wave of soldiers lingered near the door without going in. Justin was a good shot and the Dognan soldiers learned quickly.

Taking advantage of opportunity, Justin tossed the gun to Gambit. "Cover me while I plant the charges!"

Gambit did as he was told, holding the weapon like it would burn him. He had never liked guns and thought of them as the coward's way out, though like today, they did sometimes come in handy. He cringed with every blast he fired, but held his own. He was a good shot, having practiced shooting as a means of improving his own accuracy with projectiles back home. He was keeping the soldiers at bay while Justin got the work done. The problem was, this was taking too much time. Justin was swift, emptying both his pack and Remy's quickly of their bombs, but he was still eating up precious minutes. Remy wondered, how were they going to get out of here?

Things did not improve when one of the Dognan soldiers proved he was just as good a shot as Remy was. Clever enough to shoot high, he fired and hit some of the machinery above where the two men were crouched. These guns melted metal just as well as flesh and it rained down on the pair in a molten torrent. Gambit's quick reflexes saved him from serious injury but Justin took the brunt of it, howling in agony as he was burned across his legs by the gooey mess.

Remy was immediately concerned for Justin, but he still had to cover the door, Justin's cries of pain were inspiring the Dognan soldiers to try that much harder to regain access to the room. Gambit snatched at Justin's gun, now being left with no choice but to use it, and was forced to almost continually fire shots that way to keep their attackers at bay. This was going from bad to worse. "Justin, you goan' be okay? Should I call Fallen in to get us?"

Justin had quieted and was doing his best to clear the molten mess from his legs. It was a useless effort, he was only making this worse and was going into shock. "No, there's no time. Give me the gun back and go back. I'll stay here and cover the bombs."

Gambit blinked, trying to fathom what Justin was suggesting. It wasn't that bad was it? "Quoi?"

Justin gestured to his ruined legs, he wasn't going anywhere, not like this. "You heard me. We can't leave the charges unprotected. If we do all this will be for nothing."

"You stay, Gambit stays," Remy said without conviction. His damn survivor instinct was sending him alarms, double time. It was hard not to pick up and flee.

Justin grinned bitterly. "This was never your war, alpha. Take this box, there's something in there for Bruce. He's very special to me, understand?"

"Non, no. You comin' back wit me!" Remy stammered, not wanting to hear this even though he knew it had to be done. "We can work dis out. Let me call Fallen!"

"No, it's too risky. I admire your honor, alpha. Now, don't deny me mine. Give this to my Bruce. He won't be very happy with me, but I had to do this. I'm doing this for him. He's been the whole world to me."

Remy took the small box Justin had shoved at him, trying to comprehend what he was being told. He'd seen the two of them hanging around a lot, but it never dawned on him that Justin and Bruce were anything more than friends. Justin saw the hesitation in Remy's eyes. "Do this for me. Your debt is paid to the Clan, my friend. Go back and be proud of what we've accomplished here this day."

Gambit took Justin's box and crammed it into his pack which was now significantly lighter than it had been before. He gave Justin the gun back as he had requested but that didn't mean he was unarmed. He opened the bag of ball bearings, charging a handful. He tossed them through the open door into the hallway and smiled with grim satisfaction when the Dognan fell back as they exploded. A chunk of the ceiling in the hallway fell over the door, blocking Justin in and giving him some more protection. They both knew it wouldn't be enough, the Dognan men were determined to get in and they would eventually. It was just going to be a question of whether or not they did it before the explosives went off and only Justin's use of the gun would determine that. Justin had made his choice and so with great reluctance, Remy backed off they way they'd come. He hauled himself back up into the duct, but hesitated a moment more, his red and black eyes full of pain and woe.

Justin looked back at him, in pain but no longer afraid. "You've got no time, my friend. Get moving!"

Remy said a quick prayer and made his way back, double quick. It was much easier for him on his own, the fear driving him faster, faster. It wouldn't be any more pleasant roasting in here than it would been if he had stayed with Justin. He had no desire to die here in the twisted duct work like a Cajun TV dinner. He had a good memory and an uncanny sense of direction and so he made it back without mishap, but he did hear troops moving at a fast march through the building below him. Justin was surrounded and Remy heard echoes of him through the duct work. Justin was firing shots and shouting curses, laughing as if this was some kind of wild party and not his own death sentence.

Remy came out of the duct, back where he had started, grateful to find it undisturbed. In spite of all the ruckus the Dognan slavers hadn't discovered how they had gotten in. He gave a quick sharp whistle and Fallen came out of hiding.

She looked behind him, seeing he was alone. "Where's Justin?"

"We 'ad some trouble."

Fallen didn't question him. The troubled look in his eyes was answer enough. She started to unravel the leather straps, but the ground rocked beneath them as the first of the explosive charges went off. It wasn't close to being safe here and Fallen just snatched at him without ceremony, vaulting them both up into the air. A moment later, the blast wave came from the huge core reactor exploding and hit them in a cloud of smoke and heat. They both cried out as they were buffeted and Remy shouted, terrified that Fallen would drop him. He had nothing to fear, Fallen raised a telekinetic shield around them, buffering them from the heat and turbulence. It kept them from falling out of the sky but they were both singed and smelling a bit crispy when the dust finally cleared. Fallen held him easily and took off towards the Lucky Dragon, their end of the bargain done.


	11. Chapter 11

(Eleven)

While Fallen was flying Remy and Justin in towards the large Dognan Complex, Jacob teleported in a crew of his own. He had deliberately selected a landing site on the opposite end of the complex from where she had gone. The plan was for this second crew to cause enough of a diversion that Justin and Remy would have fewer soldiers to deal with as they worked.

Jacob teleported his crew in near one of the loading bays and stepped back, exhausted from the task. He was not as powerful as Reese had been and the effort of moving so many people had tired him. Fortunately, this time the pilots from the alpha squad had been brought along to help spread the new squads out. They grabbed their pre-arranged cargo of men and took to the skies, spreading out the assault force into four groups.

Jacob stood with Valentin's group and waited. Once everyone was in place, they gave a loud cheer and attacked the building, startling the bands of soldiers milling about nearby. The Clansmen were cloaked with Fallen's revised devices and the Dognan had no idea what was going on at first.

The Clansmen were well organized and attacked the armed soldiers first, eliminating the worst threat. The Dognan fell quickly, unable to see who was attacking them. It was almost comical as the ones who managed to escape the first wave of attackers fired out shots at random, sometimes killing their own men, sometimes not. More Dognan men fell than Clansmen and the newcomers soon overpowered them.

Jacob hung back from the worst of the fighting, not being a seasoned soldier, and watched in a kind of horrified admiration as Wolverine took to his task with gusto, growling and snarling. Blood flew about in all directions as Logan gleefully let go of all restraint and skillfully worked his way through the crowd. As talented in the martial arts as Remy might have been, this soldier was far more deadly. When he had free rein to act, he was as beautiful in his own deadly way as he was lethal. Six silver blades, at once covered with blood, sliced artistic arcs through the air with deadly intent, more often then not finding the intended target with no wasted motion. The screams of the mortally wounded added their own soundtrack, leaving no question that this was a dance of war.

Valentin wasn't far behind his mutant companion, hacking and slashing with his huge broadsword. Where Logan was good up close, short and sweet, Valentin was just as lovely, slicing his way through the crowd and showing just how well he deserved the title of First General.

As he took down some of the armed men, Valentin distributed their guns and the Dognan were pushed back even farther inside the complex, repulsed by their own weapons.

Logan stepped back, clear of enemies for a moment, and took a deep breath. This was going so well that he had to hold himself in check. It would be too easy to get carried away and dash off deeper inside the complex to follow his prey. Knowing that this building was going to go up any moment, that wouldn't be such a good idea. He could only hope that Remy and Justin were getting along okay.

It wasn't long before the warriors heard a huge rumble and the ground trembled beneath them. Justin's charges had gone off, signaling that it was time to wrap this up.

"Take cover!" Valentin shouted and the Clan men raced for the outside. They hadn't gone that far inside so it was only a short dash to freedom. They were joined by the pilots returning with their survivors, a short crew. Valentin had suffered some severe losses, but not as badly as the Dognan had just now. All in all, it was still a rousing success.

Jacob gathered them all quickly and happily teleported them back to the Lucky Dragon, too excited and thrilled to care how the trip had exhausted him further. They had done it! They were free!


	12. Chapter 12

(Twelve)

Fallen made the trip back to the Lucky Dragon quickly and dropped down next to Valentin's men where they had gathered just outside of her ship, landing with her usual grace. Both she and Remy dusted off after they landed, they were covered in soot and dirt from the blast.

Bruce came running up as soon as he saw them, a huge grin on his face, but he faltered when he saw that Justin was missing. "Where's Justin?" he demanded sharply.

Remy kept his eyes down, wilting under the Clansman's tone of voice. This wasn't going to be easy or pleasant. " 'E didn't make it. Sorry, mon ami, but 'e left dis for you." Remy dug into his pack and took out Justin's box.

Bruce, in clear denial of the situation, refused to even look at it. He turned very white and started to shake as he began to sputter, "No...no...We have to go back! How could you leave him there?"

Remy did his best to explain. "Dere ain't nuthin' left, de buildin' is gone. Je suis de'sole, mon ami. It was 'is decision, Bruce, I'm sorry. 'E wanted to stay. Gambit couldn't make 'im go. 'E done it for de Clan, 'e done it for you. Dis what he say to me," Remy said quickly, wanting only to say the one thing that would take away the look of horror in Bruce's eyes.

"No...No!..NO!" Bruce began to shout. He let out a piercing scream of tortured pain that brought immediate tears to the corner of Remy's eyes. Gambit couldn't imagine leaving Rogue behind in any situation and didn't want to. The pain would be the same. He had never heard a man scream like that and he never wanted to again.

Logan heard Bruce's noise and came on the run. "What's goin' on?"

"Justin didn't make it," Remy explained quickly, shaking his head. He was trying really hard not to cry but he wasn't sure he would succeed. This hurt horribly and he was just too sensitive a creature not to feel it deep inside. "Je suis de'sole. Dis de wors' fuckin' t'ing."

Bruce had sunk down to his knees and covered his face, the grief swiftly overtaking his control. He was shaking hysterically and was screaming into the ground. True to the words Logan had overheard, Bruce couldn't imagine this place without Justin and the loss was more than he could bear. When Remy saw no one move to help the grief stricken man he went to Bruce and tried to comfort him.

Bruce felt him come and shoved him away as though he was diseased. "Don't touch me! You killed him! You left him to die!" he blurted out, his pain making him say things his heart knew weren't true.

Remy backed up with a soft cry and turned away, his head down as he wiped at his eyes. His battle not to cry was lost and a tear got away from him. It burned down his cheek, hot and wet like an accusation. He was flooded with guilt and now questioned his decision to leave Justin behind. Maybe he hadn't tried hard enough, surely there must have been more he could have done. This was all his fault. It ripped at him from all sides of his already guilt ridden conscience and he turned to run away, to hide his shame, but Henry's big blue body blocked his exit.

Beast had come from the ship with a Med-kit, uncertain of the cause of Bruce's screams. Once quick look at the situation told him the worst had happened and that Remy was well on the way to adding this lost soul to his already oversized collection of failures. The doctor was quick to scold in his firm, yet understanding tone. "Don't even think about blaming yourself for this, my Cajun friend. You did what you had to. This man's heart is breaking, don't take what he says that seriously." Beast gripped him and wouldn't let him go until he nodded slowly and stayed put.

Logan stepped in, seeing Bruce's distress. He knelt down in front of him and said in his gentlest voice. "Yer friend was very brave. He wouldn't want ya to be sad for him."

"What would you know about it?" Bruce snapped rudely, not wanting to hear it. His eyes were red and tears streamed freely down his cheeks. He was shaking violently and gripped his stomach as he started to heave. Logan was out of comforts for a grief on this level, his repertoire was rather small, and retreated to let someone with more experience take his place. Henry was right there and ready.

Bruce knew Henry and didn't try to fight him. He sagged as he greyed out from shock and swayed unsteadily into Henry's arms. Beast laid him down on his side and reached into the Med-kit for a sedative.

Valentin stood quiet through Bruce's whole display of grief with a look of complete disgust on his face, but couldn't hold his tongue when Logan came near. "What's his problem?"

"Justin didn't make it back."

"So? Clansmen die all the time. This should come as no surprise. He should take it like a man, not like some stupid woman."

"They were close."

Valentin sneered at him. "Don't talk to me like an idiot. I've known these two for almost twenty years, we're all from the same Clan. I know what good friends they were."

"Maybe they were closer friends than ya thought."

Valentin's eyes widened at his words and he snorted in disgust. "Oh, please! Justin was a fine Clansman, not some sniveling faggot boy. He would never be as you suggest."

Logan shrugged. "Some folks you just can't tell. I saw the two of them together. It's true."

Valentin looked down at Bruce who had grown quiet from Henry's sedative. Valentin couldn't hide his disgust and loathing. "I had no idea. If I had Bruce wouldn't be here."

"It didn't keep him from holdin' up his end," Logan snapped defensively. "He worked just as hard as anyone else out there today."

"No, but look at him now. If we were in the middle of fight what use would he be to me then? Look at him, weeping and slobbering like an old woman. Get him out of here or I'll kill him myself!"

Beast closed the Med kit and heaved Bruce up into his arms, thankful for his superior strength. He wasn't obeying Valentin, he just wanted to get Bruce somewhere comfortable. "I'll lay him down in the ship. He'll be asleep for a while."

Henry carried his friend up into the ship and lay him down on one of the barracks beds. Bruce curled up with a groan and covered up his face with his hands, still grieving even though he was no longer fully awake. Henry covered him up and stood for a moment, looking down at the man who had grown to be his friend. He recalled now the stories Bruce had told while they worked together. Bruce would often talk about how he and Justin had grown up together in a small nomadic Clan that had joined up with the others at Nine when the boys were twelve. All told, Justin and Bruce had been together all their lives and were a couple for almost twenty years, having known they were meant to be together from the beginning. That kind of bonding left Henry no doubt at the depth of Bruce's grief and anguish. They might as well have been married. That perspective put a light of understanding on Bruce's breakdown and Beast grieved for him knowing that Bruce would suffer for a long time to come. Such were the casualties of war and the primary reason Henry did all he could to avoid it. Henry sighed and walked out, some of his early high at their apparent victory dissipating.

When he left, he saw Fallen in the Main room watching the Dognan base burn on the ship's monitors. She saw him and jumped up and down in her excitement, giving a cheer, and hugged him tightly in her joy. Beast laughed at her enthusiasm, letting her recharge his happiness. "We did it! We did it!" she squealed, squeezing him without mercy.

"Yes, we did," he replied.

Fallen took his hand as the door for the lower level opened on her mental command. She took him below and locked the door behind them, she was still protecting her secrets and didn't want any of the Clan to follow her. She let go of Henry and raced down the hall when she saw Seth already out in the hologram and waiting for her. She flew into his arms and lifted him with her power so as not to topple him, he was still pretty unsteady on his feet. She spun with him just above the floor in a lazy circle and covered him in kisses.

"You're free, Fallen! You're free!" he cried, holding her close and laughing with joy. "It's over!"

"I'm going home!" she said. "We're all going home!" She continued to shower her love and excitement on Seth who received it gratefully. Her kisses grew more and more intimate and tender as she calmed down. She touched his face and ran her hands through his silky white hair. In her happiness, she was oblivious to everyone else except him.

Henry watched them, an amused smile on his lips. He could see how much Seth and Fallen loved each other. The fact that Seth was technically not real didn't matter to him at all. Their love was so strong, so powerful, Henry could almost touch it himself. They reminded him of the many couples that formed on the team back home, being in such dangerous situations time and time again formed such strong bonds. Some loves were just too strong to be denied and this clearly was one as well.

Henry noted Kimble was up on the viewing screen. He was in the control room, simply sitting in his chair, watching them from his work station. He had a peculiar expression on his face, his mouth was smiling - it always was - but his eyes were terribly sad as if he knew just what he was missing out on. Henry hoped he wasn't jealous. It was hard not to be, looking at two lovers like that.

Seth kissed Fallen and whispered in her ear, just enough that Henry could catch it, "Tonight. You and me, my love. No matter what."

She laughed softly. "No matter what. Don't worry, I'll help you."

Kimble cleared his throat to get their attention. "Vally's cummin' up the ramp, Fallen."

Fallen gave Seth a last lingering kiss. "Go, now. I'll be back for you."

She set him down and he left her reluctantly, he was much too happy having her close and in his arms to ever want her to leave. He stood still with his hands across his chest and then his body suddenly shimmered and melted until all that remained was the grey block of particles. Seth's computer image reappeared next to Kimble on the screen and he gave her a long, pained look of separation.

Kimble stood awkwardly and tugged on him. "Let's go. We gots work ta do fer leavin'." He dragged Seth away, taking him out the rear door and back into the system.

Fallen turned to Henry and led him back to the upper level, whispering to him all the while. "Listen, now. Quickly. Valentin will come and we'll go back to Station Nine to see Cerebus. Cerebus will ask you what you want. You must tell him you wish to return home without delay. Understand? We have to leave as soon as possible if we are to escape with little fuss."

"I understand. Believe me, there is nothing I want more."

They didn't have long to wait for Valentin and the others. The First General came up the ramp, his face split wide with a grin. He hugged her and gave her a kiss, his excitement mirroring that of Fallen's would be lover down below. Fallen accepted it, but her expression was far less than she had for Seth. "We leave for Nine immediately," he ordered.

"Yes, my Lord."

She pulled away from him and went to the main screen. Kimble was already waiting for her and they began the preliminary preparations for departure. Seth came in the control room and stood behind Kimble, watching over his shoulder. Kimble made a remark in Siskan and they laughed.

Henry smiled when he saw Logan and Gambit come up the ramp. They were dirty from the explosion and the fighting but thankfully otherwise unharmed. Both of them were grinning. They were going home!


	13. Chapter 13

(Thirteen)

The trip back to Clan Station Nine went smoothly. Logan and Gambit showered on the way in, they were all ready and refreshed for the landing, feeling like new men and excited by the prospects of going home. The Lucky Dragon landed in Nine's great stone hanger, emptied out quickly, and the party made its way to Cerebus' grand Hall.

The celebration was well underway when they got there, the noise extravagant and loud. The hall was filled with laughing, dancing people. The main festivities were to be the next day, but you wouldn't know it by the revelry they saw at this moment. Most of the Clansmen they saw were already drunk and shouting, but who could begrudge them this celebration? At least there was no violence, all seemed to be happy and cheerful as they partied. There were musicians playing all sorts of instruments and singing, the music deep and primal. There were many extra torches along the walls and bonfires, brightening the room. The tables were heavy with fine food and drink, the best the X-men had seen since they arrived here.

At the end of the great hall Cerebus sat on his fur covered throne, surrounded by his attendants. Antius, the former white slave was among them. He nodded respectfully at Logan when he caught his eye and Logan returned the nod with a smile, thinking back fondly on their contest. Antius was no sore loser and it cheered Wolverine's heart to see it. He almost wished Antius was going back with them, he would have served Charles Xavier well. The regret was fleeting, Logan wished only to return home.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!"

Logan turned to see Jacob coming up behind them, carefully towing a tiny white pilot behind him by one hand. Jacob was obviously thrilled at the day's events, he rushed up to them and gave them all a round a bear hugs, he even had one for Remy he was so excited. Wolverine was grinning, his friend's cheer raising his already soaring spirits that much higher. "We made it out in one piece," he grumbled as a reply to Jacob's enthusiasm.

"Rumor has it you guys are bailing out on us."

"That's the plan," Wolverine answered. He leaned in close to say, "Why don't you try and sneak on, eh? Hitch a ride with us?"

"I've got too much celebrating to do. Besides, I just asked Leena to marry me," Jacob said, bringing his pilot companion that much closer.

Logan nodded. He had grown to know Leena a little these past weeks. She was a pilot like Fallen and in many ways more pretty and attractive, yet not one as finely made. She could produce the Ristle energy and fly, but she was a bit dim, not as smart or as aware. It was her child like state that attracted Jacob, she brought out the protector in him and they were both completely smitten with one another. Jacob had struggled with dating back home, Leena was the primary source of his improvement here Logan had come to learn. He considered it a good match and was happy for his friend.

"Take her with you," Wolverine suggested. He was hoping to persuade Jacob to come back with them, he had been the reason all this had started in the first place.

Jacob's smile dimmed some. "They wouldn't accept her there."

The X-men, in their various ways, had worked hard to improve human/mutant relations, but it was a never ending battle. It was true that someone as drastically altered as Leena would struggle in public life. Fallen had enough spirit to carry her pretty far, but this was not so with Leena. Logan knew Jacob's answer to be true.

"Besides," Jacob went on to say, "...there's still work here to do, rebuilding this place. There will always be a place for an alpha like me."

"Then we wish you the best of luck," Henry said, extending his hand. "Congratulations."

Jacob shook with Henry and then stepped politely aside as Zekian came forward to greet the X-men. "Cerebus is ready for you. This way, please."

The X-men followed as commanded and they were given spots of honor. They sat on comfortable furs to one side of Cerebus' throne while Valentin and his men arrived to sit on the other. Fallen and Maylee were close by with another group, speaking softly to one another.

They weren't given long to chat, only moments later Cerebus raised his hands to get everyone's attention. He held up his gold cup filled with wine. "A toast! A toast to the great and powerful X-men!" There was a great cheer, loud in the stone room. "Let it not be said that Cerebus is not generous to those who serve him well! You! X-men! Rise and stand before me!"

They complied clumsily, a little embarrassed to be shown off like this. In all their trials back home, they were for the most part unsung heroes that very few people even knew about. It was awkward but kind of nice in a self flattering kind of way.

The Clansman leader laughed, amused at their nervousness, and clapped his hands. "Whatever you desire! Name it!"

"You know what we want," Logan spoke, raising his voice so he could be heard by whole room. "We wanna go home as soon as possible. Immediately would be preferable."

Cerebus looked disappointed. "Don't you want to rest? Surely you must be tired?"

"Plenty of time ta rest on the ride home."

"And so it shall be done. Who will take these brave men home?"

Fallen stood. "I will." She strode tall and proud to their side and looked back at the gathering. "I am Fallen, First Pilot and recipient of the Clan Honor Sword. It is my right and my privilege. I will take them home. My ship is ready and I can depart in less than two hours. If we leave then, I can be back in time for the festivities tomorrow. Perhaps I could even bring back another load of alphas if they desire."

Logan looked at her and she smiled. He returned it with heartfelt warmth, he was happy they were going. Fallen had kept her word, they would be leaving today! Not too soon if you asked him.

"And so it shall be done!" Cerebus said loudly. "My good and wonderful Fallen, so eager to please!" She turned to go, but he stopped her with a raised hand. "Wait, Fallen. Don't go just yet. You, too, have served me well and shall have a reward as well. As a sign of my appreciation, I give you Valentin, First General and my finest warrior, as your husband."

Logan heard the words coming, but was too shocked to stop the growl that came. Of all the things that might have hampered their escape, this was one he had not foreseen. He figured that with Fallen still having some time left to serve with the Clan, this decision would have been put off and left behind them, best forgotten. He vowed not to let this stop them, his mind was already shifting gears to the next plan before Fallen even had a chance to reply.

Fallen almost choked at Cerebus' words, her shock of his announcement obvious to all. Her face paled with terror and she stammered feebly, almost unable to get the words out in her haste to think if some excuse to refuse. This couldn't possibly be happening! "Oh, no, good Sir. You do me too much honor. I couldn't possibly accept!"

Cerebus wouldn't have it. He was drunk on his wine and thought his offer was so magnanimous, the poor pilot was afraid to be so in his debt. He couldn't see her horror for what it was. "Nonsense, child. It is my wish and his as well. He has asked for you himself more than once. I see no reason now not to grant his wish. The two of you together shall be the Clan's finest asset."

"Please!" Fallen pleaded in a strangled wheeze. She could hardly breathe. "It's too much!"

"Look at you, Fallen. Anyone can see you are tired and are in need of rest. Take these good people home. Stay with them a while. Enjoy your husband. Get pregnant! Think of what powerful children the two of you shall bear for the good of the Clan!"

Fallen trembled and sobbed in spite of herself, her hands rising and grasping at her mouth as she felt her gorge rise. She couldn't stop the shudder of revulsion that rocked her.

Cerebus noticed and his eyes narrowed in an irritated squint. For the first time, he questioned the wisdom of his choice. It was too late to take it back, he would not embarrass Valentin in front of this crowd. Besides she was a pilot and female, how dare she act this way? "Do you dishonor me by questioning my good judgment?"

"No, Sir," Fallen whispered as she tried to compose herself. "I am weary..." her voice trailed off into nothing, the light already going out of her pale blue eyes.

Logan took a half step forward, trying to think fast. There must be something he could say that would get her out of this, but the only words that came to mind would surely result in turning the whole room against them, not a wise decision. It was just fate then, beyond his ability to stop. They would just have to deal with it and hope for the best.

Cerebus beamed, happy now with her capitulation. "Ahh! It is done, then." He snapped his big fingers at this First General, ordering him to come forward.

Valentin approached Fallen with Joseph who carried a small bag. Joseph smiled his wicked smile at his Master's wife to be and took out a red sash, using it to tie Fallen's wrist to Valentin's. He was happy for the General and cared not one bit what Fallen had to say about it.

Fallen began to shake, but did not cry. She would not dare, not here, not now.

"Hear me, my Clan!" Cerebus' voice boomed in the big hall. "These two are now together as one. She is his as are all her possessions. Nothing can break them asunder save Death itself. So says the Great and Mighty Cerebus!"

There was another great cheer in the hall, echoing off of the walls like thunder. The musicians beat their drums and glasses were struck in heady toasts. Fallen never heard it. Her eyes were glassy and dead as she stared numbly off to space, her heart and soul lost.

Valentin moved her face to his and kissed her on the mouth, his greed for her plain to all. She did not return his kiss but stood still, lifeless. Valentin cared not a bit, he smiled a grin full of malicious intent as that other face of his, the face of the evil man who had brutalized her the first time the X-men had seen him, revealed itself. His eyes were bright as Logan heard him hiss, "You've no need of your pathetic little Siskan now!" in her ear.

She shuddered again and this time a tear rolled down her cheek. They were still tied together and Valentin led her away from all the noise and revelry. She followed meekly, her head down, a criminal off to the gallows.

The X-men watched her go, unable to help. They were escorted to a private table where they were given the best food they'd ever seen in this place. Sumptuous chunks of broiled meat simmering in real gravy, not pools of grease, lay in platters before them and fresh bread beckoned to be tasted. Bottles of fresh wine, whiskey and beer were placed out for them as well. Too bad, none of them were in any mood to enjoy it. They had two hours to kill and heavy hearts to bear.

Logan growled impatiently and heaped food on a plate, just for something to do. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey, pouring a generous amount of it into a cup. He drank it down, saying nothing.

"So what now, mes amis?" Remy asked, just for something to say.

"We get ourselves home," Logan replied evenly. "Valentin ain't our problem any more."

Remy's red and black eyes narrowed at that. "What if de bastard comes wit us?"

Logan didn't hesitate, but offered the best solution he could come up with. "Then he's got himself a nice comfy stay in Holding Cell Three. I wouldn't let that monster loose fer a minute."

Beast nodded, accepting it as their best option. As a member of the senior staff, he was quite familiar with the small security area set aside at the Institute for the unruly. Sometimes it was just better to rehabilitate a crazed mutant than to toss him into a prison that couldn't possibly deal with his condition. The holding cells would work just as well on a dangerous Clansman as any mutant. "I agree," he said. "I only hope Valentin doesn't get a chance to destroy Seth or Kimble before we leave."

Remy grunted softly in agreement and Henry went on to say, "You should have seen Seth's face right before we left. He'll be devastated if Valentin comes back with us. Fallen will most likely honor the marriage if he does."

"Seth ain't real. Kimble ain't real. The sooner you guys get over it, the better," Logan growled. He wasn't blind to the situation, he had just adjusted his perceptions to better ease his heart. It was simply better to think this way and worry about the rest later.

Henry wasn't so eager to let it go. "Why is it so difficult for you to accept the possibility that they could be real in their own unique way, Logan? Computer programs don't behave the way those two do."

"C'mon, Blue!"

Beast shifted forward, insistent in his point of view. "You didn't see the way Seth was looking at Fallen, I did. You could feel the intensity. It was there, Logan, you could almost touch it. I haven't seen many real people look that way, never mind them. He loves her without a doubt, no matter what you may think."

Gambit had his two cents worth to add and was quick to spend them. His voice was a little sharp as he said, " 'Sides, you spend some time wit Lanlin, neh? If she was so fake, what you doin' wit 'er so much?"

Logan squirmed a little, but wasn't going to back down. He had made up his mind about this whole stupid business and was going to stick to his guns, stubborn as always. "That's not the same thing. I ain't in love with her - it - **whatever**! I know the difference between real and fake. Lanlin was just somethin' ta pass the time an' spend my money on, nuthin' more."

Gambit shook his head. "Does any'ting ever make you 'appy, eh? Didn't you ever get no toys at Christmas?"

Logan looked at him sharply and Remy groaned inside, remembering that Logan probably didn't remember any of his childhood. His memories had been wiped out and so screwed around with he really didn't know what was real and what was fake anymore.

"Toys're toys. Not real people. That's what reality is," Logan said firmly, rising. He walked off, his shoulders tense.

Remy put his head down on the table. "Merde. Dis suck like nuthin' else. Gambit jus' wanna go 'ome now," he complained.

Henry put his hand on his shoulder. "Fear not, my friend. Two hours and we'll be on our way."


	14. Chapter 14

(Fourteen)

Two hours later as promised, the X-men boarded the Lucky Dragon, relieved to finally be going home. Remy had boarded first and taking a seat in the front row, was relieved to see the control room on the screen and that Kimble and Seth were seated inside. Everything was quiet, the mood somber inside the ship.

Logan boarded a minute later and looked over the seats as he entered. Bruce was still asleep from being sedated and had been laid across the seats in the last row. He was out cold and if Fallen kept her word about staying on Earth, would have a rude surprise when he woke up. His pack with Justin's box safely inside had been crammed under his seat. Logan wasn't happy about Bruce still being on board since it probably meant he wasn't going to be the only one going along.

His suspicions were justified when he saw Valentin and Joseph arguing in the galley doorway. "When this ship gets back, I'm gonna shut those freaks down," Wolverine heard Valentin say.

"If they help her fly the ship, shouldn't you keep them?" Joseph was arguing. "We need this ship in case the Dognan return. We need a powerful space vessel. We can't fight the Dognan with our scrub fighters. Not in space."

"Fallen flies this ship, not those two freaks," Valentin snarled in disgust. He walked into the galley and his Second followed him. The argument continued, but Logan wasn't interested in listening to any more of it.

Logan finished snooping and took his seat next to Gambit. A deep sinking feeling of unease settled into Logan's gut. He tried to shrug it off and looked over to the cage. From where he was sitting, he had a good view of the inside. Fallen was on the closest of the two sticks, her head down. She had a cigarette burning but the ash was long like she was in a trance.

"De pilot, she gonna be okay to go?" Remy whispered low.

Logan turned to his teammate, trying his best to sound confident as he replied, "I suppose so, ain't nobody stoppin 'er."

Remy almost groaned aloud when he saw both Valentin and Joseph take seats a couple of rows behind them. Again he whispered to Logan. "What's dis? We're not catchin' a break on nuthin'!"

"Too late ta do anything 'bout it now. We'll deal with it."

A moment later, Henry came up the ramp. He glanced over at the lethargic pilot hanging on her stick and scowled. Now more than ever, her cage room looked like the prison that it was. Knowing that Valentin was close by, he said nothing, but took his seat next to Maylee, hoping to offer the child some comfort. She had slunk into her seat only just before Henry had taken his, turning away to face the wall. She had been hiding out during the battle and hadn't seen much of them. More than that, she was no doubt upset about Fallen's new living arrangements. It affected her and not in a positive way.

Glancing up to the large viewing screen, Beast could see that Kimble was in his usual place in the cockpit room. He was working, getting ready for the flight. He would occasionally glance up at Fallen, but was silent. His face was drawn, serious. Seth was behind him in the control room for the launch. He sat in his chair, still and quiet as he stared off into space. He seemed as sad and defeated as Fallen did, he sat doing nothing. There really wasn't anything for him at the moment, taking off was Kimble's job. Like Bruce, Seth was just here for the ride.

"Boost sequence initiated," Lucky chimed.

Kimble announced,"Boostin' in two."

"Boosting in two, aye," Fallen responded without moving. Her voice was low and scratchy.

Henry felt useless with all of this sadness and had to do something. He gently gave Maylee's shoulder a nudge, making her look up at him with a slight smile. That was better. He said nothing more but lay a gentle hand on her arm, patting her slightly. Her smile grew a bit brighter and she leaned into him, suddenly grateful to have him there. He put an arm around her and comforted her like the child she was.

Wolverine took a moment to quietly sniff out Fallen's condition. Even from this distance he could pick up Valentin's stink all over her. Her hair was tangled and dirty, she hadn't washed from Valentin's last dose of love and affection. Scores of new bruises decorated her arms and she had a nasty looking suck mark on her neck, Valentin had marked her as his. She looked terrible, but appeared calm and unhurried. She crushed out her cigarette and gripped the stick.

Kimble counted down, "Ready..Steady..Boost!"

Fallen shot of a bolt of blue Ristle energy from her hands. They boosted.

"Boost sequence complete. Do you wish to continue?" Lucky prompted.

"Yes."

"Port exit initiated."

The engine hummed into life with a low vibration. Fallen concentrated and Logan felt the ship move up. There was a thump as the landing gear was retracted, they were now floating in the bay. Using her powerful telekinesis, Fallen mentally piloted the ship out of the hanger and into Cerise airspace.

The huge screen was divided into the six windows. Two for the cock pit, the other four giving different views of their progress. Logan watched as the blue sky of Cerise turned into the black starlit backdrop of outer space. The sight of it should have made him feel excited to be traveling, but all it did was increase his sense of unease.

Lucky chimed again, speaking in his tinny voice. "Port exited. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes," Fallen replied.

Fallen and Kimble negotiated the rest of the launch and they were on their way. Logan's unease still wouldn't go away. He looked around him nervously but nothing seemed obviously out of place.

They flew steadily for about forty minutes, placing the light brown dustball of Cerise further behind them, until they reached the jump point. Kimble had been quiet all this time, but spoke up as it was time to prepare for the jump. He glanced up at Fallen again, his pale blue eyes serious. "Jumpin' in five."

Fallen nodded. "Jumping in five, aye."

"Still with me, girl?" Kimble mumbled low, concerned about Fallen's quiet and unable to keep it to himself.

"Still here," she replied, giving him a wan, dismissive smile. She wasn't about to air her grievances in a ship full of passengers.

The time passed.

Lucky chimed, "Jump sequence initiated."

Kimble took his turn. "Jumpin' in two."

"Jumping in two, aye." The jump clock came up on the screen and began counting down. The silence was broken when Fallen barked suddenly, "Command Override **Lost Cause**."

Lucky responded immediately with, "Command Override accepted. Emergency procedures activated."

Kimble blinked, startled. " 'Scuze me, darlin'?"

For the first time Seth moved. He looked at Kimble in alarm. "What?"

Wolverine grunted as his seat belt locked tightly against his chest. Grids lit up on the floor like movie theater running lights. Something thumped from the lower level below and Logan's gut clenched. His hyper senses were going wild as his body surged with adrenalin and the hairs went up on the back of his neck. He just knew this was going to be bad, whatever it was.

Lucky continued to announce in his strange mechanical voice. "Ristle power overload screens deactivated. Explosion safeties disabled. Command Override options negated."

"Fallen, what're ya up to, girl?" Kimble asked nervously. When she didn't answer he snorted with impatience. "Lucky, abort jump!"

"Unable. Second Command Override required."

Kimble grinned angrily and shook his head. "Oh, yer in so much fuckin' trouble, Fallen. I ain't got the words!" He began flipping switches but didn't seem to be having any success.

Lucky had more good news to offer. "Warning, jumping without safeties activated may result in implosion during the jump. Probability of successful jump without safeties engaged, two percent or less."

"It's all right, Lucky, we'll be just fine as we are," Fallen replied, her voice sounding as far away from all right as a poor exhausted pilot could. "Leave the safeties off, if you please."

Wolverine jerked in his seat at those words, now realizing to his horror that she intended to kill them all. As unforseen as her marriage to Valentin had been, this had been that much more off his radar. Fallen had appeared much too strong to him for such a lame move as this.

Not about to take it sitting down, Logan was done with being restrained. He popped a claw and in a flash, slashed his belt, not caring that he cut himself in the process. Gambit was next to him and tried to free himself as well, but with no means of cutting his belt as Logan had, remained trapped in his seat. Logan heard Remy call out for assistance but ignored him, he was too busy trying to stop this nightmare. He stood and tried to move to the cage but was stopped by a force field.

Lucky's voice chirped from a small speaker above him. "Security grid 3 activated. You are in violation of emergency procedures, Sir. Please return to your seat."

"Violate this!" Logan snarled and slammed his fists full force against the containment field. No good. He wasn't going anywhere.

Valentin shouted. "Fallen, what is this shit? What's going on?" He didn't get an answer. He shoved against his belt and reached for his long sword, but it was secured under his seat. With the seat belts locked, he couldn't reach it.

Seth tried a different tactic. "Fallen, whatever you're going to do... Just wait a minute and let's talk about it."

"It's too late for that now," she whispered softly, her head down. She was just hanging there on the stick now, like an abused rag doll that had nothing left inside.

"Espe're, Fallen, let's talk about dis reasonable, s'il vous plait!" Remy called out. He had done his share of sweet talking, enough for him to try. He didn't know if he could charm her from this distance, his persuasions worked best when he had eye contact and skin to touch, but he had to do something. "Come on, fille. You stronger dan dis, Gambit's seen it in yo' eyes. Dere ain't nuthin' so bad you gotta go dis way!"

Fallen didn't even spare the young thief so much as a glance. Once committed to her course, she wasn't about to back down from it.

The clock was still moving, only one minute remained. Fallen closed her eyes and began to recite in a loud, scratchy voice. She chanted,**"Lo, there do I see my Father...**

**Lo, there do I see my Mother, and my Sisters and my Brothers...**

Logan recognized her words immediately as a butchered version of a Viking Death Chant and it only conformed his worst fears. "Fallen!" he cried out in a hoarse snarl, only increasing the panic of the others around him.

"Command Override **Frecketeshackt!**" Seth ordered in hysterical scream.

Lucky, "Access denied."

"**Lo, there do I see the line of my people**

**Back to the beginning..." **

Seth, "Command Override **Zaresh didect a set!**"

Lucky, "Access denied."

"**...Lo, they do call to me,**

**Bid me take my place among them..." **

Seth, "Command override **Liteckt!**"

Lucky, "Access denied."

"Fuckin' do sumpthin'!" Kimble snarled at Seth.

"**...In the halls of Valhalla **

**Where the brave... shall.. live... forever." **

Seth, "Command Override **Seth predicta keteriackt!**"

Lucky, "Command Override accepted."

"'Bout fuckin' time!" Kimble said, unable to hide his fear.

Kimble and Seth frantically began flipping switches. Some of the security grids shut off, but the jump clock continued to wind down. Twenty seconds. Kimble swore again, they weren't going to stop it. Seth turned to his brother quickly and shouted. "Go! Go, now!"

Kimble snarled in frustration and suddenly bolted from the control room, toppling his chair in his haste. He snatched a black bag from a shelf as he went, sending more items flying. He disappeared through the back door and into the system, slamming the door behind him.

"Where's 'e goin'?" Gambit asked behind Logan.

"Whatever it is, I hope he's quick about it!" Wolverine growled.

Fallen watched Seth's distress impassively and finally spoke. "I love you, Seth. I always have."

"**Fallen!**" Seth bellowed with a sob as he rose suddenly to his feet.

The clock hit zero and Fallen responded, a huge burst of blinding energy flamed from her tiny body and into the stick. She threw her head back and screamed.

They jumped.

To be continued in Adrift.


End file.
